Survival of the Determined
by SheMarauder
Summary: Amber, a young fourteen year old girl, is sent to Middle-Earth by a higher being, partially against her will, because she wished the fate of the Durin line had been different. Now she must adapt to life in Middle-Earth and learn everything she possibly can to carry out her wish. (Rated T because of eventual swearing. Probably ThorinxOC but in later chapters. I dont own the Hobbit!)
1. 2015 (14)

**AN: Here's another OC insert for ya. It seems to be the only thing I'm capable of writing about.**

'Thoughts'

* * *

It was my mother that got into the trilogy first, having owned all of the Lord of the Rings movies. Her interest soon bled into me and my sister. Our father liked it too, but he preferred his Band of Brother movies. Now those were depressing.

Anyways, when we heard that The Hobbit was coming out in theaters we immediately knew we were going to see it. The four of us saw "An Unexpected Journey", and were quite happy with how it turned out. Dad enjoyed it as well, but when the second movie of the trilogy came out he decided to wait until it was out on DVD to see it.

As expected the second movie was just as good, if not better, than the first. My interest in the movie made me go online to read fanfictions about the story, reading about how OC's would get stuck in the story and trying to either find a way out or accept their fate.

Reading those fanfictions was how I disckvered the ending of the trilogy. I tried finding fanfic's that ended before The Battle of the Five Armies because the movie hadn't come out yet, but I was unlucky enough to find out that Thorin, Fíli, and Kíli all died in the last movie. I decided to keep the information to myself, not wanting to ruin the movie for anyone else.

When previews for the final movie came out I was ready to squeal with joy, but then I remembered how the movie was going to end and I stopped myself.

Keeping the information to myself was harder than I thought, but eventually the movie was playing in theaters so we all hopped into the car and drove towards the nearest cinema, and waited to see how the journey would end for the Company.

Sure I knew the fate of three of the most important members of the company, but I still didn't know how they died, or if they reclaimed Erebor.

Despite knowing the three Durins were going to die, it did nothing to prepare me for how heart wrenching the scene would actually be. I had never cried for a movie before, and I take no shame in admitting that I allowed myself to shed a few (hundred) tears when Tauriel cried for Kíli.

The drive home from the theater was pretty quiet, but that was either from the movie, or because it was fairly late at night.

The next day my family seemed to have forgotten all about the movie, and returned to their daily lives like there was nothing wrong.

I wasn't so lucky.

My days were filled with the dark clouds of depression as I constantly thought about the heartbreaking finish to such a wonderful movie. Sometimes a burning anger would break through the wave of depression, and I would silently curse Peter Jackson's name.

Why did he have to kill them off? Especially since they finally won the battle, and reclaimed the mountain! Was it because it was part of the books? Then screw the books! I probably only got through the first four pages before getting bored of it.

Friends from school were quick to notice my mood change, and whenever they asked what was wrong I would passionately explain about the unfairness of it all. How they should never have died. But every time I finished I was given a pat on the back and told that they were "just fictional characters" or "don't be silly, none of it was real".

None of my friends shared my passion with the fantasy world. They apparently believed there wasn't any time for watching Harry Potter movies, or dressing up as one of your favorite characters for Halloween. It was more about how good your hair looked, or if your make-up was done correctly.

One day I was sitting on the bus on my way home from school, and I decided to really think about what my friends had said.

I already knew they were fictional characters, so for them to tell me that wasn't helping any. The fact that none of them seemed to even try to sympathize with me made me a little angry at them.

In the back of my mind I knew I was being irrational about everything. I shouldn't be getting so worked up over something so trivial.

That line of thought seemed to spark something inside of me, and when my bus pulled up in front of my house I stomped off and stormed through my front door.

Thankfully my parents were off at work, and my sister was either listening to music in her room or out at a friends, leaving me to do whatever I wanted for a few hours.

Shutting my bedroom door I flung my backpack at the edge of my bed, and took a long look at my surroundings.

Dozens of posters were plastered all over my walls. Each wall had its own theme of either Harry Potter, Batman, Pirates of the Caribbean, or The Hobbit. Pushed up against the wall covered in Harry Potter merchandise was my twin bed, and at the end of my bed was a long dresser with a small screen tv with various DVD's strewn about.

There was a bookcase pushed up against the wall opposite to my bed that was filled with several books on the bottom two shelves, and the rest were stocked with figurines.

Not really caring about any homework I had I popped a random movie into my DVD player and changed into some more comfortable clothes.

When I flopped onto my bed I pressed play on the remote, and snuggled against my pillow.

Suddenly feeling tired I allowed my eyes to slowly drift shut, and I could have sworn I heard the opening theme song of The Hobbit before my mind was claimed by sleep.

* * *

 _It was a surprise to take in how vivid my dream was turning out to be. Usually I would just have small clips of various dreams until I woke up, and when I was awake I wouldn't be able to remember any details._

 _Something told me this was different._

 _Covering the ground around me was a white, wispy smoke, making it impossible to see what I was standing on. Above me was a star filled sky, only instead of just stars there were the obvious forms of planets and suns._

 _What was funny was that the planets I can see weren't any from our solar system. There was the Milky Way, which I knew was where our solar system was, but then there were other planets spotted across the sky. One of them was even purple._

 _"I've been watching you for a while now, child."_

 _Gasping I whipped around to see someone that definitely hadn't been there before._

 _A large figure was regally sitting on a large throne. His body was swathed in what appeared to be a white sheet, but was tinted a light blue from the stars and planets above. There were two glowing orbs sitting in what I assumed to be his head, and I decided they were the creatures eyes._

 _"Who…" I licked my lips, "who are you? And where am I?"_

 _"This is my realm, child." The figures voice had an ageless, all-knowing quality to it._

 _I uneasily cleared my throat, "And who are you?"_

 _"I am Eru, and that is what you may call me."_

 _"Eru, Eru, I know that name," I murmured to myself. "Aren't you one of Tolkien's characters?"_

 _"I am myself, and no one else's."_

 _I nodded, "Uh huh." Taking a closer look around I shrugged to myself, "This is a pretty cool dream and all, but it's kinda pointless."_

 _"A dream? Why yes I suppose this is a dream. But only for the moment."_

 _His response earned a strange look from me, but I ignored him and thought about something that would make me wake up. The fact that I could think so clearly in my dream was actually rather surprising for me, but I thought of anything that could help me wake up._

 _Just wishing for me to wake up didn't work, as I'd already tried that as soon as I saw Eru's eyes. Pinching the skin of my arm actually hurt, and when I took away my fingers I saw a red mark forming. I pinched myself hard enough that I wouldn't be surprised if a bruise formed._

 _The fact that I could feel the pain of the pinch made me uneasy. I had never felt pain before in a dream, and there were many instances in a dream where I should have felt some sort of pain but never did. By all means I shouldn't have felt that pinch because this is a dream. Eru said so!_

 _"Look," my voice was shaky, "I don't know what's going on, but I want to go back home."_

 _"I already told you, you are dreaming–"_

 _"No!" My voice had raised in pitch, "No I'm not! If I was then I would be awake right now instead of standing here in front of you!"_

 _'Eru' sat on his throne, completely unaffected by my rant, "I can sense your distress, child. I understand this may be a bit frightening for you, but I need you to take calm breaths and listen to what I have to say."_

 _His wise voice seemed to calm me down against my will, and I found myself taking deep, slow breaths. "You said this was a dream," I accused. "Why won't I wake up?" I gasped, "Am I in a coma?"_

 _"No, child, you're not in a coma. As of right now you're physical body is sleeping in your room."_

 _I breathed a small sigh of relief, but one of the word he used caught my attention, "My 'physical body'?"_

 _Eru dipped his head in agreement, "Yes. While your body is in your home, your conscience is here with me," he motioned to our surroundings with his covered hand._

 _"But I'm dreaming." I couldn't seem to grasp what he was trying to tell me._

 _He must have realized that because he explained it, "When you fell asleep your conscience_ _slipped towards Morpheus' realm, but before he could claim you I latched onto your mind and took you here."_

 _I understood that I was technically still laying in bed at home, but apparently Eru took stole me so he could talk to me. "Why did you bring me here?"_

 _"You know who I am, and what I've created?" I nodded with a small excited grin. "Then you should know that I am constantly watching my creations live their lives on Middle-Earth." An invisible wind blew the fog away from the floor to reveal a large map. "Although not all of the creations are mine I still love them equally._

 _"What you may not know about yourself is that you love the Khazâd almost as much as I do." I looked up at the unfamiliar word, and Eru elaborated, "The dwarrows."_

 _The news surprised me. Sure I loved the Company from The Hobbit, but I didn't think I loved them that much. Especially with them being fictional._

 _"When you watched that movie from your realm I noticed you grow more attached to the characters than any other. You never thought of them as fictional, and grew strong bonds for each one of them. Something Aluë was most exuberant about."_

 _"Exuberant?"_

 _"Ecstatic."_

 _I nodded in comprehension, "So you took me here to tell me that? Something I kinda already knew?"_

 _"I'm not finished yet child," I blushed and looked away. "I brought you here to offer you a proposition."_

 _My interest was peaked, and I lifted my gaze from the floor and looked just passed Eru's head. I couldn't look him in the eye because those glowing orbs were just too creepy._

 _"Your reaction to the fate of the Durins line was what cemented my idea. You always wished that their fates had been different, that each member of the Company had lived. More than once you wished to go to Middle-Earth with the hopes of changing their fate."_

 _Chewing at my bottom lip with embarrassment I nodded. It felt weird to have someone tell me about the many wishes I had made. What made it embarrassing was that I never thought anybody else would hear them._

 _"I brought you here to grant that wish."_

 _My lip slipped from between my teeth as I gazed at the sheet covered form of Eru, "You can't be serious?!"_

 _"I assure you I am quite serious."_

 _"But–but–ugh!" I threw my hands up in defeat, "I've gone crazy! I must have hit my head or something before I fell asleep because this is all completely ridiculous! Maybe everybody else was right, and I've become a bit too obsessed with The Hobbit movies."_

 _"No child," Eru's voice seemed to have an urgent hint to it. "Everything I have told you is the truth, I promise you."_

 _"And you expect me to believe that this is all real?"_

 _Eru grew silent as he tried to find a way to make me believe that everything he's told me was real._

 _A new voice suddenly sounded from somewhere behind me, "Father, is this the child you've been so fixated on?"_

 _Turning around I spotted a lean, yet muscled, man striding across the mapped floor. He had dark reddish hair with a matching beard, and a long cape draped over his right shoulder, allowing his stomach to be exposed. Thankfully he had some sort of skirt/blanket expertly tied around his waist. Although he was able to pull off the look. And resting neatly in the palm of his hand was a long handled mallet._

 _"I'm sorry sir, but who are you?"_

 _"Ah," he set his mallet down and clapped his hands together, "she has wonderful manners."_

 _The mystery man strode up to me, and looked me directly in the eye, "My name is Aulë," there was a slight twinkle in his eye, "at your service."_

 _Aulë crouched down so he could be eye level with me. He was a little shorter than Eru, but he still easily towered over my 5' 4" frame._

 _For a second I stared at him dumbly, until my mouth finally worked before my brain was ready too, "Amber, at yours."_

 _"Well, Miss Amber, I wasn't even here to hear your conversation, and yet I can already see you doubt Fathers claim." His large hands engulfed my shoulders, "I suppose I cannot blame you, it is hard to believe."_

 _"You expect me to believe this is all real?"_

 _"Then I want you to realize something…" he shifted his weight until he was kneeling in front of me, "…this is quite different from a normal dream, no?"_

 _I nodded._

 _"Because this is not quite a dream. What you are witnessing right now is more along the lines of a vision."_

 _"That doesn't make much sense."_

 _"I guess you are the seeing is believing type?" I nodded again, "Alright," he took a lock of my jaw-length red hair and separated it into several different strands, "I assume Father told you why he brought you here?"_

 _"To grant one of my wishes."_

 _"Correct," Aulë reached into one of his pockets and pulled out what looked like a bead. "Because of your strong emotional bond with my dwarrows, Father and I decided we would grant your wish of going to Middle-Earth and trying to change the fates of the last of the Durin line."_

 _"Even if all of this was true and you were able to do that, how do you expect me to help? I'm a fourteen year old girl with no experience with swords or adventures! I would probably have to kill some orcs while I'm there too, and I have no idea how I'd handle that. I've never killed a thing in my life!"_

 _Aulë took out another bead, and carefully placed it over the very end of the braid, using it as a sort of clip to keep the strands from falling apart. "You're right of course, and that is why we decided to place you in an earlier time so that you may grow. Then you can use your time to learn everything you believe is necessary to save the Durins."_

 _Aulë stood up from his kneeling position and picked up his mallet from beside Eru's throne, "Good luck Father, and you especially Miss Amber," and with that he disappeared from the room._

 _I looked around to see where he could have possibly went, and silently envied the fact that he could leave while I couldn't._

 _"Come here, child."_

 _Keeping a weary eye on Eru's cloaked form I slowly walked towards the bottom of the throne. As I got closer the throne seemed to grow taller, and by the time I was close enough the top of my head didn't even reach Eru's knee._

'He's much taller than Aulë,' _I thought to myself._

 _"Since Aulë gave you a gift, I think it is only fair to give you one myself." Eru reached above him, and seemingly plucked a start from the sky. He cupped his hands around it, and I was only able to see a brief flash of blue before he held out his new creation._

 _A small glass cylinder was wrapped in thin strands of silver ivy that attached it to a beautiful, yet simple silver chain, and sitting inside the small vile was the twinkling blue form of the star that has been plucked form the sky. "Once you put that necklace on it will grant you the lifespan of one of my elves."_

 _"Why would I need the lifespan of an elf?" Even though I questioned him I placed the necklace around my neck, and hid it under my shirt. The glow of the star was easily noticeable from under my pajamas._

 _"You will know once your in Middle-Earth."_

 _"Whoa, wait, I never said I was going!" I shouted at him._

 _The roiling fog returned with a vengeance, and this time it was an ominous black, "You agreed as soon as you accepted my gift." Eru seemed to calm down after his own small outburst, "You must forgive me, child, but even if you hadn't said no now, I would have asked again later."_

 _"So I have no choice in what's going on?" Now I really hoped this was a dream._

 _"I'm afraid not."_

 _"What about my family? My friends?"_

 _"I suppose it would be possible for me to send you back after your journey, but remember that I am sending you back years before that adventure begins. Would you really have me send your adult self back into your fourteen year old body?"_

 _He had a point there, "How far back am I going exactly?"_

 _"Far enough."_

'This guy's as cryptic as Dumbledore. Or I guess I should say Gandalf for the whole Middle-Earth theme.' _"I can't just leave my whole life behind like that!"_

 _"Have you not yearned for an adventure for the past several years? Always wanting to take trips out into the wilderness, or learn how to hunt."_

 _He really has been watching me if he knew about that. I wanted to learn how to hunt about a year ago, but the urge had faded…sorta. "But…my family…" I started getting the urge to cry._

 _"I am truly sorry for bringing this upon you, young one. Just know that you will find a new family, and better friends where you are going."_

 _"But I don't want to go." The whispered were lost as the fog surrounding me crawled up my sides and wrapped around every available inch of my body. I could feel the tendrils pulling me down, and no amount of resistance would make them let go._

 _It felt like forever before I was brought to a sudden halt. The tendrils instantly disappeared, and my body was plummeting towards the ground. The last thing I heard was Eru's voice whispering an apology, before my body came to an abrupt stop._

* * *

I bolted upright with a sharp gasp. My chest was heaving with panic, and showed no signs of slowing down. Had I woken up in my room I'm sure I would have felt absolutely fine and laughed over my imagination, but considering I was laying in the middle of a grassy field made me hyperventilate with fear.

A bright flash broke through my panicked haze, and my eyes snapped down to my chest to see what caused it.

Sitting just underneath my still-developing chest was the small vial containing the glimmering blue form of a star. I wrapped my hand around it, fully prepared to yank it off and throw it far away from me, but as soon as I touched Eru's gift I felt wave after wave of warmth and reassurance.

My breathing slowly started to even out until I was finished physically panicking, but that didn't mean I wasn't freaking out mentally.

 _'I don't understand what's going on. I thought all of that was a dream! Am I still dreaming? It wouldn't be the first time I've had a dream within a dream, but then why do they both feel so_ real _?'_

I drew my knees up to my chest and crossed my arms over them while resting my forehead on top of my arms. The vial was still clutched in my right hand as I stared at my dark blue plaid pajama pants.

I didn't want to believe that anything that just happened to me was real, but the fact that I was holding a star in my hand and an intricately done braid was hanging in my hair made my mind reluctantly accept the fact that none of this was some elaborate plot to mess with my head, or that I wasn't sleeping, or in a coma.

Should all of this turn out to be real then I definitely couldn't just sit here and wait around for something else magical to happen. Considering the fact I just came from a conversation with Eru then I should be in Middle-Earth, and that magical thing could end up being an orc.

I slowly stood up from the ground and brushed off any strands of grass that might have stuck to my pants. As I brushed myself off I noticed that while I was thankfully wearing clothes, I was only in my pajamas which consisted of plaid blue pants, an oversized t-shirt, and no bra… _could this get any worse?_

Growling a few choice words under my breath I took in my surroundings and noticed that to my right was an endless horizon of grassy plains, while to my left was a large stretch of forest.

Walking out in the middle of the plains would leave me pretty exposed to not only the elements, but also any creature that decides to attack me. With those rather disturbing thoughts I decided to go into the forest. Sure there might still be dangerous creatures, but at least in here I might find something to eat or drink. Hopefully both.

Just from observing I could tell this wasn't Fanghorn Forest. Of course I was only comparing it to a movie image, and the real thing might look a bit different. Add on the fact that I'm some odd years before the journey to Erebor then who knows what anything looks like now a days.

Carefully stepping over a raised tree root I pondered over what I remembered from my conversation with Eru.

Apparently when I fell asleep in my bed at home he stopped me from having any dreams by stealing my conscience to be able to talk with me. He supposedly heard my wishes to become a part of the Company to save Thorin and his nephews from getting killed, and he decided to grant them (without my consent) because I had a strong love for the characters.

With all of that summed up I started wondering how he did all of that. Who has the power to steal people from their dreams? To move people from realm to realm, and pluck stars from the sky?

I stopped walking through the trees, and smacked myself in the forehead. Of course he was able to do all of those things! He's Eru! Like, the very first God of Middle-Earth. Heck he created Middle-Earth! It probably isn't that much of a stretch for him to move someone from one reality to another.

The fact that I had actually met a god made a goofy smile spread over my face, and because I was alone I allowed myself to squeal a little bit. Not only did I meet Eru, but I also met Aulë, the God who made the dwarves.

Both of them apparently wanted me to come here to Middle-Earth to help the Company–that much I got. But what I didn't understand was why they would choose me. I'm only a fourteen year old girl, and they decided to make it better by sending me in some random year before the journey.

Heaven forbid they gave me a couple details about where I was, when I was, and what I needed.

Deciding to put off thinking for later tonight I continued walking through the seemingly never ending forest for the next couple of hours.


	2. TA 2799 (14)

**AN: I own nothing of The Hobbit, and I never will. No matter how much I wish it.**

 _'Thoughts'_

 **Khuzdul**

* * *

Throughout my journey in the thickening forest I was thankfully able to find a bush full of berries. They looked, smelled, and tasted like raspberries, so hopefully they weren't poisonous. But with my luck I they probably were.

Even though those berries were filled to bursting with juices they only added to my growing thirst. Not wanting to add to the thirst I put them in my pants pocket. Hopefully they wouldn't get all smushed and ruin my only clothes.

With another forlorn look at the clear sky I knew it wasn't going to rain, but from the darkening shades of orange and purple it was safe to say that evening would soon be upon me. That urged me to move a little faster so that I might find some sort of shelter for the night. Even if it meant sleeping in the trees.

Each step I took sent pains from the soles of my feet to the middle of my calves. I didn't exactly walk all the time back home, and my friend and I barely participated in gym class. I wasn't exactly cut out for walking for hours on end through a forest.

When my feet started aching even more I looked down to give them a distressed look. That's when I noticed a difference in the soil. It seemed…dryer somehow. More cracked. The roots of the trees weren't as big, and seemed to be thinning.

Lifting my gaze I started observing the surrounding trees a little closer, and decided that they weren't as thick as when I first walked into the forest earlier this afternoon. The amount of trees around me was thinning out as well.

All of these little details brought a spark of hope in my chest. _'Maybe I'm close to a city! Then I can finally find out where and when I am!'_ I thought to myself.

I began jogging with a renewed vigor, hoping beyond hope that I was close to some sort of settlement and I wouldn't end up standing in the middle of another plain. That would definitely put a damper on things. Trekking through a forest just to end up practically right where I started.

The jogging soon turned out to be a bad idea because not even five minutes later the pain in my feet returned with a vengeance, and now I was even more thirsty then before.

Reaching into my pocket I mentally thanked anybody who would listen that I hadn't thrown the berries back onto the forest floor, and messily shoved the entire handful into my waiting mouth. The sudden burst of flavor had an almost sour taste to it. I was hard pressed not to spit them all back out.

I tried not to choke on the large mouthful of fruit as I continued forward. By now I could see a noticeable difference in the environment. The ground had barely any loose dirt, and it actually seemed rather trampled, but I couldn't tell if it was recent. The trees were also a lot more spread out, and their trunks were thinning inch by inch.

A metal clang could be heard somewhere in the distance. Straining my ears to listen closer it turns out that there was more than just one single clang of metal, but it was a continuous noise joined by a deafening uproar of screaming and shouting.

 _'The only thing that could be making such a racket would be a battle of some sort. But that's not possible…right?'_ After a moment of thought I conceded that it was very much possible here in Middle-Earth.

Squinting through the trees to try and find where the fighting was coming from I noticed that the trees came to an end about a hundred yards ahead of me. I could only tell because there were a small amount of trees decorations the ground. It looked like some had been cut down.

As I got closer and closer to the edge of the trees the noise of the battle got louder and louder; leading me to believe it wasn't some small skirmish, but an actual full-on battle.

Hiding behind the thickest tree I could find I looked around the trunk and witnessed something I was sure I'd never forget.

Hundreds of bodies littered the ground while thousands of their comrades fought above them. I tried processing what I was seeing, but my horrified eyes landed on a nearby body whose head had been cleaved in half.

Ducking back behind the tree I hunched over and threw up the contents of my stomach. I've only ever seen a dead body on shows like Criminal Minds, or CSI. That was nothing compared to seeing the real thing, with blood and brain matter splattered across the soil.

After another small gagging session I finally trusted myself to stand up straight. When I looked around the tree again I tried to keep my gaze off of the bodies littered ground, but it was hard to tell who was fighting who.

Swallowing the bile rising in my throat I looked at the ground again, but kept my gaze away from the one who caused me to throw up.

Not that it did much good. All of the other bodies were riddled with various injuries that their armor failed to protect them from. It ranged from an arrow to the heart, a sword wound through the gut, and even missing limbs. Some bodies were covered in blood while others only had small patches.

There were two different body types laying on the ground, which led me to believe that there were two armies battling right now. One looked a lot like a man, but they had a lot more facial hair that was intricately decorated with braids. From my position behind the tree it looked like they were rather on the short side as well, possibly shorter than me, but only by an inch or so.

The other type was one of the ugliest creatures I had ever seen. It had a dark grey skin with… _bone armor?_ I rubbed my eyes and looked closer to see that, yes, their armor consisted of leather, animal furs, and bones.

 _'Are those…orcs?'_ Looking closer to their bodies (while trying not to hurl) I saw that they were covered in a black substance. I remembered from the movies how orc blood was black instead of red.

The battle was still going on strong between the orcs and the other race, and from the looks of it the orcs were winning.

I tried racking my brain to figure out what the other race was. They weren't men because they were too short, same thing for elves. The only other I could think of would be the dwarves. It would make sense though, they have the hair and the height for it.

A quiet sound sound from somewhere off to my right caught my attention. It was barely audible over the sound of fighting, but I definitely heard what must have been coughing.

Looking over the bodies I tried to find the source of the noise, but less than a minute later the sight had me throwing up at my feet. Which–by the way–were bare. I realized that the hard way when I stepped on a rather sharp rock during my wander through the forest.

Taking a deep breath I tried looking again, but it was impossible to tell. Judging the distance between me and the ongoing battle some-odd meters away I concluded that I was far away enough not to be seen.

Carefully stepping out from behind the tree I tried to do the impossible, and ignore the extremely loud war zone going on not that far away from me. As soon as I was farther out in the open I began feeling horribly exposed. Tensing up in fright I ducked down until my stomach was practically touching the dirt.

Naturally, with the luck I've been having so far, my left hand landed directly in a puddle of liquid. Following the trail of red with wide eyes I swallowed thickly when they finally landed on a dead dwarf. His entire left arm was missing while his head was at an unnatural angle. His unseeing eyes staring directly at me.

My breath got caught in my throat and I began choking on my own spit. I turned my head to the ground as I began violently gagging up stomach acid. When it passed all I could do was taking in deep, shaky breaths, to try and dispel the urge to vomit even more. After taking one more readying breath I faced the dead dwarf and reached forward to close his eyelids with two fingers.

Unable to stay any longer I crawled forward on all fours, careful to try and avoid any more blood puddles. But I still managed to collect an obscene amount on my hands and knees, and not all of it was dwarvish.

"H–Hello?" My voice was rough with emotion. I could barely hear it over all of the conflict going on between the two armies. Clearing my throat I tried again, "Hello?"

Tears were falling down my dirty cheeks at the sight of all of this death. Why is this happening? What was going through Eru's mind when he sent me to this Hell? Why not someone who could have taken on the challenge? Someone who wasn't a fourteen year old girl who had her whole life ahead of her.

Blood and dirt were now caked onto my hands and knees, slowly crawling their way up my wrists. I just knew I would be feeling it for days to come, along with sleepless nights. "Is anybody here with me?"

A wheezing cough sounded from my near right, and my head jolted to look in that direction, "I hear you!" With a full body shudder I crawled over the dead body of an orc and made my way towards the general direction of the noise.

I observed all of the dwarf bodies around me, hoping it was one of them who made the noise. If it was an orc then I was high-tailing it out of there.

Just as I was about to crawl over another dwarf he gave a strangled gasp that made me jump backwards in fright. My chest was heaving until I was able to calm myself down with a few reassuring words. I could hear him taking shuddering breaths, but it was hard to tell he was breathing while wearing such thick armor.

Cautiously inching forward I kneeled down on the dwarfs left side. He had an ugly gash on his right side that was oozing blood, and after a few seconds of debate I finally reached over and pressed my hand against the wound to try and stop the bleeding.

"It's okay," I swallowed hard, and my voice came out thick, "you're going to be okay."

The brown haired dwarfs eyes fluttered open, and stared up at me with dazed eyes, **"My eyes darken."**

I leaned over him, and gave him a confused look, "I'm sorry? I didn't understand you."

His eyes seemed to somewhat focus on me and they widened, **"A child!"** The dwarf choked on a glob of blood, **"What…are you…doing here?"**

"I'm sorry but I can't understand you." The dwarf was speaking an entirely different language that I doubt was ever part of my…realm.

The dwarfs eyes locked onto the braid that was dangling from my head, and I felt his body relax under my hand, **"Mahal…he sent you. Sent you to…to guide me,"** his eyes slowly slipped shut, **"I…am ready to walk his halls. Would be…honored. Watch over my…my family…please…"** He expelled one last breath before growing still under my hand.

The tears started streaming from my eyes in earnest, and I used my other hand to feel for a pulse. When I didn't find one I fell back and hugged my knees to my chest. Strangled sobs tore from my throat, and I dropped my face into my hands, uncaring of the blood and dirt covering them.

It smeared down my face as I wept for the dwarf I barely knew. Loudly blubbering incomprehensible words like "Ohmygodohmygod!" or "Why is this happening?" and the one I acted upon, "I need to get out of here!"

I scrambled up from my place on the ground, and bolted for the cover of the trees. I didn't care which tree I dove behind, and whether or not it would hide me. All I cared about was curling up on the dirty ground and crying (read: weeping) away my sorrows.

Not all of those sorrows were from the battle going on several yards away. I found I was also thinking about Aulë, and how Eru stole me from my world and put me in Middle-Earth against my will. I harbored no ill feelings for Aulë, I was just upset he didn't stop Eru. There was a small voice in the back of my mind pointing out that there wasn't much he could do to Eru, since he's a higher being than Aulë.

I latched onto that rational voice, hoping it would help me think through the situation I've been stuck in.

Eru sent me here to help Thorin and his Company, but because I'm only an inexperienced fourteen year old they sent me to some time before that. They happened to put me near a full on battle going on between dwarves and orcs–no doubt expecting me to help in some way. But how?

"I don't understand," I moaned despairingly. Clutching the vial around my neck I began talking aloud, as if Eru could hear me. "Do you want me to help the dwarves in this battle? How am I supposed to help them if I have no weapons? Not that I would know how to use any, but still! And I can't just walk away from this, not after what just happened."

I was telling the truth. Most kids my age probably would have ran the other way as soon as they saw what all of the noise was about, preferring to save their own lives instead of others. Unfortunately my conscience wouldn't let me run the other way. Instead trying to find a way for me to help.

"Damn you, Eru!" I suddenly shouted at the sky, "Damn you for doing this to me! Taking me from my home–my life! You expect me to help, and yet I've no clue how to do it," I rubbed my sniffling nose, "Is there nothing you can give me? Anything that could help?"

After a few moments of waiting and nothing happening I bowed my head in defeat. I should have known he wouldn't, or couldn't, do anything. He may be a god of Middle-Earth, but he can't just magically give me a sword or something. Besides its not like I would know how to use it. Or be able to lift it.

A small heat rose in my chest, so small that I didn't even notice it at first. But soon enough the heat began building and building, and at first I began wondering what that wonderful warmth was but I quickly wanted the burning inferno to leave my body. It felt as if someone had lit a fire in my chest and it travelled through my veins until it had spread everywhere.

Never before had I felt such pain, and I hoped against all hope that I would never had to experience it again. It hurt so much that my screams got caught in my throat, causing my mouth to open without any sound coming out.

If my eyes weren't closed I would have seen my skin blackening, and white fur sprouting across my body. My clothes soon hidden beneath the coarse hairs. I only noticed the changes when my nose and mouth elongated into some sort of snout.

Now instead of just pain I was starting to panic. I watched my fur covered hands widen as my fingers shortened, and my nails became black claws. The fat and muscles on my body grew larger, and I'm limbs shifted so I could comfortably stand on four legs.

The second I felt the changes stop the pain faded as well. My eyes were still screwed shut, but after a few moments of waiting for the pain to return I slowly relaxed and opened my eyes.

I blinked rapidly as if that would change the odd sight I was seeing. Stretching out from the middle of my face was a pale snout. I brought my hand up to touch it, but ended up hitting myself in the head with a large white paw.

Jerking backwards in shock I ended up falling onto my butt, which led me to the finding of my furry hind legs. I no longer had human limbs but the limbs of a large white…bear?

 _'I'm…'_ I twisted around as best I could, but ended up falling over. A low grunt sounded from my throat, and I slowly placed my new legs underneath me. When all four of them were underneath me I carefully pushed myself up. I tried rising onto my back legs, but my weight forced me back onto all fours. Jumping worked for a few seconds, but my balance was apparently different in this body and I went back to all fours before I could fall over.

 _'I'm a polar bear,'_ The words rang through the silence that were my thoughts. _'I'm a fucking polar bear.'_ I seemed to be swearing quite a bit since I came here.

"Are you serious Eru? Your idea of help is to turn me into a bear?!" What was supposed to be a tirade of criticism towards Eru came out as a series of grunts and growls.

 _'This is ridiculous. How is this supposed to help?'_ Looking out passed the tree that had no chance of hiding this larger form I saw that the orcs seemed to have the upper hand. Whenever one was killed five more took its place. On top of that I could see even more swarming the mountain the dwarves were apparently trying to get to.

I may not have been given an experts knowledge on swordplay, but bears were deadly in their own right. They had teeth and claws that could easily tear through someone's flesh.

 _'Wow…morbid much?'_ I slowly stepped out from behind the line of trees. My steps were wobbly at first as I tried to get used to the use of four legs instead of one, but after a couple steps I began getting the hang of it. I slowly started picking up speed until I was at a full out run.

I got closer and closer towards the fighting dwarves, and I felt fear start to over take my body, but my determination was stronger.

Needing the dwarves to get out to the way I let out a bellowing roar. It startled me almost as much as it startled the surrounding dwarves and orcs. Both parties tried scrambling out of the way, but only the dwarves seemed to succeed (thankfully).

I could see the fear in the eyes of the orcs, and despair in the dwarves for thinking I was another, larger foe.

Their hopes were soon restored when I ran right passed them and barreled into the orcs forces. There were squeals of pain from the orcs that were crushed underneath my weight, and I tried to justify their deaths with the fact that they were orcs.

I herd a roar from behind me, but it wasn't from an animal. It had been a unanimous yell from the dwarves. Their spirits lifted at the sight of the unexpected ally tearing through the orcs ranks like butter.

Unbeknownst to the dwarves I was actually having a rather hard time making my way through the orcs. I barely learned how to walk on four legs not five minutes ago, and now I'm trampling over any orc I knock over, causing black blood to stain my paws.

I could always just fall on top of them if I must.

The only way I knew how to fight was to use my teeth and claws. I would throw out one of my front legs and drag it across any orcs in my path. With my focus only on those in front of me it was easy for an orc to run up and try to run his sword into my flank. I saw the rushed motion out of the corner of my eye, and when I swung my head towards the oncoming attack I briefly wondered how I could stop it before it's head was cleanly chopped off by a dwarvish ax.

After that I was much more observant of my surroundings, and whenever one would run up to me I would bite down on their wrist–sometimes hard enough to break their bones. The pain caused them to drop their weapons, and once they did I would jerk my head towards the ground causing them to fall, and I would make sure to step on either their head or neck as I ran to my next opponent.

Of course I couldn't stop all of the attacks, and more then once I've had a few of the orcish weapons nick my sides, leaving behind several stinging cuts along my body. One even got a lucky shot, and I now had a gash going from my left eyebrow, beneath my right eye, and ending at the base of my jaw. Hopefully it wasn't too serious, but there was a brief worry that it would scar.

Being the fourteen year old couch potato I was it came as no surprise when I felt myself become short of breath, and my muscles begin to aching. It may have been no surprise, but it certainly wasn't pleasant.

I pushed off of the ground and landed on the head of yet another orc. I ignored the blood and brain matter smearing onto my paw as I looked around. It seemed as though the orcs had steered clear of me for this short moment of time, and I was rather grateful. It gave me a chance to look around and see what damage had been dealt.

The same despair that gripped the dwarves began to overtake me. My presence may have brought more hope, but it only lasted for a short amount of time. There were still thousands of orcs pressing against the dwindling dwarven forces.

My gaze eventually landed on another orc, but this one was different from the others. He was much paler–white really–and he was taller than the others. What was most troubling was the fact that he was also much stronger. He swung his mace with such ferocity that any dwarf brave enough to charge towards him were easily batted away.

I watched as one particular dwarf tried his luck against the orc. He was covered in blood just like the rest of us, and yet he seemed much more regal than any other dwarf I've come across. He ran at the pale orc with such determination that I wondered who would win.

But it was all for not. The pale orc easily batted away the dwarfs shield, and he brought his weapon down to severe the dwarfs head from his shoulders. Instead of moving on to kill even more dwarves the orc grabbed the severed head, and lifted it into the air with a triumphant bellow.

If I thought the dwarves were losing hope before than this wiped almost any chances of it returning.

The scene I just witnessed clicked in my mind, and I unconsciously batted away an oncoming orc as I thought about what I had just seen. The only way for me to have seen that would be in one of the movies, but which one? It wasn't the Lord of the Rings, so it must have been from The Hobbit.

That was when I remembered the scene of the movie where Balin tells the Company about the battle of Azanulbizar. Azog, the pale orc, swore he would wipe out the Durin line, and he started by beheading the king.

 _'No…'_ my mind whispered, _'I was sent here to help. I could have prevented that. Saved Thorin the pain of losing his grandfather. Saved the king.'_

With a steely determination I began to slowly make my way towards the Pale Orc. He did not see me coming as his focus was fixed on the oncoming dwarves.

I was grateful for the adrenaline running through my veins as I fought my way towards where Azog was standing. He had finally felled a small wave of dwarves with striking ease, and I could have sworn I saw some orcs carry away one of the bodies, but I couldn't be sure as I was watching his interaction with none other than Thorin, son of Thrain.

Watching the story being told in the movie was never as frightening as watching it happen in real life. Here I actually watched as Azog used his mace to wrench Thorins shield out of his grasp, along with his sword. The actions caused Thorin to fall back and tumble down the small hill of rock.

Azog followed his victim down the rocks. He lifted his mace above his head and brought it down on Thorin. Logically I knew Thorin would pull through and defeat Azog (for today), but I still felt trepidation. Enough so that when Thorin was laying on the ground with nothing but and oaken branch for protection I latched my jaws onto Azog's right arm with an angry roar.

The attack took him by surprise, and I was able to use that moment against him. Turning my head to the side I was forced to use all of my strength to pull him along with me. I used my grip on his arm to stand back onto my hind legs, and continued twisting my body. With my left paw pressed against his side I was able to fling/push him away from me.

The sudden loss of weight caused me to fall backwards, and I ended up landing on my back. The fall knocked the breath out of me, and it took a couple moments before I was able to roll onto my side.

My battle weary eyes located Azog's rather angry form, and I had to force myself onto my feet before he could come back. It was with great pleasure that I noticed not only was his arm bleeding from my bite marks, but that my claws had made three long cuts across his side.

When Azog got closer to me I noticed he no longer had a snarl on his face, though he wasn't exactly happy either. He was giving my body an odd look that I couldn't help but growl at.

His eyes flicked to mine, and I watched them narrow as he slowly came closer to me. Occasionally they would flick back towards my body, but he mostly kept eye contact.

When he held out his with a few words soothingly murmured in a rough language I'd never heard before, I finally realized he was looking at my body because of my fur. It was just as white as his skin, and if you washed off all the blood it may have been whiter.

As his hand came closer all of the fighting around me seemed to become a blur as I came to another realization. He thought that since we were the same color he could try and be all buddy buddy with me.

Yeah. Right.

As soon as his hand was close enough I lunged forward and clamped my jaws onto his hand. Azog released an angry yell as he tried to pull his hand free, and when he succeeded it was only because he sacrificed the skin on his hand. I now had clumps of pale flesh stuck in my teeth, but thankfully I got used to the taste of orc after I've bitten through most of those I've killed.

Azog's angry look returned, and I saw the hand gripping the mace tighten. I gulped heavily, and took a step back when he brought his weapon high above his head. When he brought it down I quickly tried to back out of his reach, but I didn't think I'd gotten fully out of the way.

However it hadn't been necessary to move as a dwarf suddenly jumped in front of me, and blocked the oncoming blow with a wooden branch.

Internally fangirling over the fact that Thorin had just saved my life, I allowed myself a brief moment to pull myself together before I felt his back run into my side.

I looked up to see Azog, once again, bringing his mace down for the killing blow. Not about to let this albino bitch kill the most awesomest dwarf ever, I bumped Thorin with my side so he would fall forward, and I used my paw to bat away his mace.

The sharp weapon cut into the pads on my paw, but I didn't particularly care. I had to focus on the fact that it hadn't left his grip, and was now swinging towards me, but this time I didn't get the chance to move out of the way before the attack was stopped.

Thorin had quickly jumped up from the ground to stop the attack with his oaken shield, and when Azog tried to use his strength and push Thorin away, he brought up his blade and sliced off Pale Orc's arm.

I watched as the severed limb hit the ground, grossed out that the mace was still held in its grip.

A pained wail attracted my attention, and I watched as Azog fell to his knees with his stump clutched in his remaining hand. Thorin was just watching him shout in pain, so I took the opportunity to try and kill him.

Key word being try, as dozens of orcs converged onto the two of us, and I had to focus my attention on the oncoming orcs. Unfortunately the orcs managed to grab Azog and drag him away from the battlefield.

Thorin and I killed whatever orc we could, and when we saw that their forces had gone to regroup in front of the mountain we made eye contact. He inclined his head towards me in silent thanks, and when I inclined my head back I gave the bear equivalent of a grin at his astonished look.

I broke eye contact first to roar ferociously at the oncoming orcs. Next to me I heard what sounded like "Du Bekar", and when I looked back I saw Thorin pointing his sword at the orcs with all of the dwarves following suit.

Just like when I first entered the battle my bulk easily knocked into the orcs, and with a dwarf on either side of me my worries about getting killed were lessened.

* * *

 **AN: Reviews are greatly appreciated. I wish to know how much you love my story. (Hopefully you don't hate it.)**


	3. TA 2799

_'Thoughts'_

 **"Khuzdul"**

 _"Black Speech_

* * *

It had taken all night for the dwarves to finally push back the orcs. The moon had been the only light, and there were a few close calls where a dwarf almost killed a fellow dwarf, but thankfully they were able to stop themselves before anything terrible occurred.

I, on the other hand, was never in such danger. With me being a huge white bear it was pretty easy to see me. Such a blessing was also a curse as it made me a bigger target for the orcs. A couple times already I've been cut off from the dwarves to be surrounded by ruthless orcs.

Usually I was able to take care of them and come out with a few cuts and scrapes, but after a while of this the orcs finally realized that I was one of the biggest threats against them. They thought to take care of this by leading me away from the dwarves.

I'm ashamed to say it worked.

I had been completely in the zone. Killing orcs left and right (apparently killing them gets easier as time goes on). I felt pretty invincible. That concentration was broken when one of the orcs that had been recklessly running at me jumped backwards before I could swipe open his throat.

I gave the bear equivalent of a disgruntled frown, and lunged forward to take a bite out of his jugular. Once again he dodged backwards, and when I heard what sounded like evil high-pitched giggles I felt my temper rise to dangerous heights.

Lumbering forward as fast as my polar bear body could go I tried to grab any part of the orcs body so I could drag him down and break his skull, but each one of my attempts ended in failure.

It all changed when I lunged forward for what felt like the millionth time, and instead of jumping backwards like he usually did, the orc dodged to the side. In my surprise I kept running forward, and that was when I felt a white hot pain slice across my shoulder.

The roar of pain I released echoed loudly over the battlefield, and when my leg hit the ground I crumpled forward until I was lying fully on my stomach. I lifted my head, and shook it back and forth to try and get rid of the dizziness that overcame me.

When I looked back at my shoulder I saw that the orcs blade had cut from the front of my shoulder to the beginning of my ribs. At first it didn't seem so bad, and I felt like hitting myself for being such a baby, but then blood slowly started oozing out until it was coming out in rivers, completely covering my left side. _'Not good. This is definitely not good.'_

I heard some sort of dying animal screech, and looked over to see the orc responsible for my new wound holding his sword up above his head like he had just conquered the world. Apparently the animal screech was the orcs victory yell because it gathered the attention of all the orcs who joined in on the excitement. I thought I heard another, more deeper yell with a hint of fear and urgency, but I could have been hearing things.

The orc slowly walked up to my head with a creepy grin on his face. With each step he took the orcs that had made a ring around us grew even more impatient in their excitement. And when he finally stopped right next to my head he raised his crude sword above his head to rile up the other orcs even more.

 _'He's just like any other bad guy out there,'_ I thought while he pressed his sword against my throat before raising it above his head, _'They waste time.'_

Thankful that my fear hadn't paralyzed my limbs I rushed forward to bite into the orcs leg. Unfortunately the added pressure to my leg made my wound flare with pain. Instead of ripping off the bastards limb I ended up falling into his legs, making them get stuck underneath me.

I heard the angry snarls coming from the orc now stuck beneath me, and I would have stayed in that position if my shoulder wasn't burning because of it.

I heaved myself onto my feet, but I learned from previous experience to stay off of my front paw so I allowed it to dangle underneath me. _'This is not good,'_ I watched the orc grab his sword while snarling at me, _'My leg is useless now, and without it I'll most likely die.'_

I wasn't kidding. Without the use of my leg I couldn't just hit them all willy-nilly like I did before, and I couldn't step forward and bite them. Just to test the theory I lightly pressed my leg against the ground, and immediately felt pain start to form above my shoulder.

He spat something out in a guttural language that I had no hope to decipher. Either way I didn't have much time to think about it as he started running towards me with his sword out in from of him. He wasn't the only one running at me either.

My chest started heaving, and I awkwardly hobbled back as if that would help me get away, but it only brought me closer to those behind me. I roared out of desperation and prepared myself for a world of pain, but before the orcs could reach me I heard a loud clang of metal on metal, followed by a yell.

The yell had been nothing like an orcs, and I looked around to see a bunch of dwarves cutting through the orcs. They had been so focused on me they didn't even notice the dwarves were upon them until it was too late.

When I looked forward to face the orc who dragged me into this mess I was just in time to see Thorin viciously slice his sword through the foul creatures neck. The orcs face was frozen in pain, even after his head tumbled to the ground.

Thorin didn't give the body a second glance as he turned to survey the battlefield. I went to do the same but, once again, I forgot about my wound. As a result I ended up tumbling to the ground much like I had when the orc sliced my shoulder. The impact made me grunt, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain.

When I reopened them I came face to face with concerned blue eyes, "Slowly, Fróthi. You might irritate your wounds."

If I had eyebrows they would be furrowed in confusion, _'What's a fróthi?'_ Either way I took Thorins advice and slowly lifted myself off of the ground. It was a much harder task than I previously believed it would be. I could now feel all of the aches and pains covering my body. Every single cut or bruise stinging from the wind. Now that the adrenalin had faded I could feel the damage that's been done to my body.

Once I was safely standing on three legs I surveyed the battlefield to find where the orcs had gone, only to find they had disappeared. I slowly turned my head from side to side, but they were officially gone.

"It is over Fróthi. We won," Thorins voice held nothing but sadness in it even though the dwarves had won, and I could understand why that was. Bodies of dwarves and orcs completely littered the ground. There was barely any room for one to walk without stepping on one of their fallen comrades.

What was left of the survivors were combing through the bodies to try and find whether or not their loved ones were among them. Already I could see dwarves falling to the ground and cradling someone against their chest, or those who survived were clinging to each other with everything they had.

Feeling as if I was intruding on something I shouldn't have I slowly started following after Thorin. He didn't even bother looking at the people he stepped over, but that changed when we made it to the rock formation where he started fighting Azog.

He found the body he was looking for, and stared at it with such a blank gaze I thought he was broken. When I followed his gaze to see a body without a head I realized it was his grandfather, Thrór.

Thorin slowly kneeled down onto one knee, and silently bowed his head. He stayed in that position for a few moments before standing back up. This time I could see his eyes were glossy with unshed tears.

He began searching around the nearby ground, and grew frantic with each passing second. His worry was starting to rub off on me, and to get him to stop I wobbled forward until I was sitting in his line of sight. I brought up my wounded leg and rested my paw on his shoulder.

A couple of warbled grunts sounded in my throat which would have translated to "What's wrong?" had I been human.

I guess he got the gist of what I was trying to say because his shoulders slumped underneath my paw, "My father went to confront Azog after he killed Thrór," Thorin clenched his fists in anger, "but I cannot find him here."

In the movies nobody knew what had happened to Thráin, but I watched some deleted scenes and knew that if he was still alive then he would be in Dol Guldur. Wherever that was.

Not really knowing how to comfort him in this body I just leaned forward, and pressed my nose against his forehead. I briefly thought about licking him, but that was way too much like a kiss.

The contact only lasted for a brief moment before before I leaned back, my leg slipping off of his shoulder, but I was careful to keep it from hitting the ground and jarring my injury.

Thorin gripped the oaken branch with a renewed strength, and walked passed me. He looked over the surrounding bodies while the morning sunlight shone down on him like some sort of halo.

Not wanting to stick around I slowly started backing away, forcing myself to get used to the pain in my shoulder. _'You will make a great king one day Thorin Oakenshield'_ I gave the best bow a bear could, and when I straightened up I saw him gazing at me, _'I will make sure of it.'_ Turning in the direction of the nearest forest I began lumbering towards the trees, not in any mood to stay here surrounded by the smell of death and despair.

"Where are you going?" I did not turn around. "Fróthi!" Still not knowing what the word meant made me grunt in agitation. I made sure to make it loud enough so Thorin could hear it and know not to bother me.

I knew without a doubt that everything that's happened in the last twenty-four hours was going to make me cry again. No doubt all of the anger I will feel in the next hour will be directed at Eru. He's the one who put me here so he's gonna get the brunt of my anger.

Now I could relate to the phrase "be careful what you wish for". It might be a while before I can wish for anything else. That or I'm going to be more careful.

Looking up I realized I was about to walk straight into a tree. Blinking at it with slight shock I looked back to see that while I had been lost in thought I made it to the forest.

Happy that I was able to get there so fast I took a deep breath, and immediately smelled something off. It wasn't blood or death, it was more of a dirty garbage smell. Kind of like–I took another deep breath… _'Orcs?'_

Internally debating with myself on whether or not I should investigate I began reprimanding myself when I started walking forward, _'I should know better than that. Of course I'm going to investigate it!'_

I lumbered forward as fast as my injuries would allow. Thankfully the worst I'd received was the gash to my face and shoulder. No doubt they would both scar, and the thought made me cringe, especially since I didn't have anything to treat it with.

For a brief moment I thought of what my mother would think, and when I realized she would never know that was when the crying started. Well, I wasn't actually crying. Apparently polar bears don't have any tears, but I still felt as though my eyes were burning with them.

I just killed hundreds–maybe thousands–of orcs. Sure they were just orcs, but for someone who's only ever killed the occasional bug that was a really big step. I tried to justify with myself that they were just orcs and that they deserved it, but it only worked so much. They were living, breathing beings, and I just killed a bunch of them.

While I couldn't shed tears I could certainly get a runny nose so it was a sad, sniffling human-turned-polar bear that almost stumbled into a fairly large clearing filled with about twelve orcs all standing in a circle.

Their presence wasn't much of a surprise since I smelled them, but the fact that they were all in a circle arguing with each other was a surprise.

I entertained the thought of listening to my flight instincts and walking in another direction, but the situation was just too odd for me to pass up without finding out what was going on. Luckily the group was speaking English instead of their Black Speech.

"He only wanted the King!"

"The King is dead!"

"Not that King you fool!"

I cringed at the creatures scratchy voices.

"You're both fools! The dwarf is already on his way to Master," The orc that just spoke creepily chuckled, "No doubt he will make the _palay_ squeal like the pig he is!" This comment got the orcs hollering.

Their conversation got me thinking. They were talking about a dwarf, and a king at that, so Thrór? No he was dead, and they said they were being sent to their master–no doubt that was Sauron. The dwarf King after Thrór was… _'Of course!'_

Thráin was found by Gandalf in Dol Guldur where Sauron is probably currently residing. Seeing as how Thrór was dead, and Thorin was still alive and well last time I saw him so the only option was Thráin–the missing king.

But if Thráin was already on his way to Sauron, then what were these orcs doing here?

"We do not need any extra baggage," the orc who spoke kicked something on the ground in front of him, and I thought I heard a whimper.

"This filthy rat is a part of the royal line! Master would be pleased we brought 'im!"

The orc was hit over the head, "'e's the youngest son of the line you fool! What would Master want wid 'im?"

"Leverage." The word was said with such malice it made shivers go down my spine.

 _'They have the youngest son of the Durin line? Dís is a girl so…Frerin? I thought he died?'_ Crouching down until I was laying on my stomach I looked between the orcs legs, and from what I could tell there was a rather bloody body in the very middle of their circle. _'Oh my god is that actually Frerin?'_

"The Master only asked for the king, and that's who were bringin' him. You two," the seemingly leader of the group pointed at two random orcs, "get rid of the whelp." As soon as his orders were given the other ten dispersed into the forest while the last two were left with Frerin's still body.

"Stupid, this was your idea!"

The other orc snarled, "You went along with it!"

Apparently left without a comeback the orc gave his own snarl and took out his sword, "Let's just get this over with."

Fear gripped my heart, and I felt all the oxygen leave my body, ' _I'm about to watch Thorin's brother die. He's gonna die! He'sgonnadie!'_

When the Orc lifted his sword, preparing to drive it through Frerin's heart, I screamed an anguished roar. It seemed to echo through the trees for miles, scaring the birds out of a nearby tree.

The two orcs completely forgot about Frerin, and stood back to back with their swords clutched to their chests. "What was that?" The orcs did a very good job of hiding their fear. "I don't know."

Ever so slowly I stepped out from the foliage that had been hiding me from the orcs sight. My weight caused the dry leaves I stepped on to crumble into dust. The sound it made caught the orcs attention, and they looked over to see my large blood covered form to emerge from the bushes.

Had I been in the orcs position I would have seen a terrifying monster stalking towards me. Covered in red and black substances and smelling so strongly of blood it would make my nostrils burn. It's bloodshot eyes, and razor sharp snarl was icing on the cake.

The image I presented would have made any sensible creature run, but orcs had no such common sense and ran at me without much thought.

Mentally apologizing to myself for the pain I was going to put myself through I shifted to the side to dodge the first blade, and I brought my injured leg up to take a swipe at the orcs face.

My claws made long gashes appear on the orcs ugly mug, and the force of my attack made him crash into his orc buddy, sending them both to the ground.

I trampled forward on three legs, and when I reached the two orcs I stomped on the head of the one that wasn't wounded. The other one was too busy trying to see through the blood in his eyes to be much of a threat.

He did manage to stand up though, and he squinted at me through the veil of black blood as he swung his sword at my head. Thankfully his sight had been impaired because his sword missed my face by mere inches.

His attack caused him to fall forward, and I tilted my head and clamped my jaws around his throat. I sunk my incisors into his jugular, but before he could use his brain and stab me with the sword still in his grip I gave my head a sharp tug to the side until I heard a sharp snap.

The orc instantly grew still in my mouth, and I allowed his body to flop to the ground with his head at an odd angle. I looked at his body with a blank stare and thought about what I'd just done, _'I just killed him–both of them really–without a second thought. It took a single battle for me to learn how to snap something's neck with just my teeth.'_

A sour taste started building up in my throat, and I turned my head to throw up the contents of my stomach. Not that there was much to throw up. I hadn't eaten since those berries yesterday, and I had thrown those up anyway.

Now I was thinking about food, and it made my stomach grumble appreciatively. _'Focus Amber, focus!'_

Spitting out the taste of bile the best I could I licked at me teeth to see if I could get rid of any more, and let me tell you right now that the mixture of orc blood and throw up had me gagging again, but I forced it down.

I limped forward the best I could, but the tiniest amount of pressure on my wounded leg sent a flare of pain so strong it made my vision white. I stood there for a couple minutes with my eyes screwed shut, and when I deemed it safe to open them I was pleasantly surprised I hadn't fallen to the ground.

Not risking another bout of pain like that I made sure to keep my paw from touching the ground, and continued forward with some sort of wobble-hop. I could move my back legs forward just fine, but when it came to moving my front leg I had to quickly jump forward so I didn't have to use my left leg.

When I made it to Frerin's motionless body I was ready to keel over, but I forced myself to stay upright and make sure he was okay. From what I could tell between the orcs legs he had been a bloody mess, and while he was covered in blood the only injury I could see was a cut on his temple.

It was possible he had other injuries I couldn't see or maybe even broken bones, but I decided to assume the rest of the blood was from other people who, upon looking around, weren't here.

Leaning down I loudly sniffed at his bloodied face. When that didn't get any reaction I brushed my black nose against his forehead, careful to avoid the cut. Still nothing.

After realizing he wasn't going to be waking up any time soon I knew I had to at least get him out of the forest. I was surprised the other orcs hadn't come running back after hearing my roar. Of course they might have been the smart ones and ran away.

Turning my body so it would be parallel from his I inched closer, and when I was as close as I could get I jumped up and landed back on his other side so my body was directly over his. _'I could drag him.'_

Reaching down I grasped the back of his armor into my mouth, and lifted the top end of his body off of the ground. Deciding this was the best I could do I started walking forward, but a whimper was heard from in front of me.

My eyes went cross eyed in an attempt to see Frerin's face, and when that failed I just set him back down and looked to see he was still unconscious. _'Well something I did caused him enough pain for him to feel it.'_

Dragging my eyes down his body I tried to figure out what the problem could be when I saw it. His left leg was a bit bent out of shape. _'So his leg is broken…shit. Now what do I do?'_

The only solution that came to mind would be to put him onto my back, but how would I get him there? So started the many attempts to get the poor boy off of the ground and onto my back.

First I tried just flinging him up there, but I couldn't get him high enough and I ended up giving us both more bruises. Next I tried pushing him up against a tree so he could just kinda fall onto my back, but that was even worse. My latest attempt was to shove my nose underneath his body, and inch my way underneath him.

My chest was against the ground with my front legs tucked to my sides with only a minor burning sensation in my left shoulder. My butt was high up in the air, and I prayed to god nobody was watching this right now.

His torso was soon on top of my head, and I slowly lifted it up until I was straight as I could be. A few times he came close to slipping off, but I was able to keep him from falling.

When I was standing up on my three good legs my neck was straining from the weight of the rather heavy dwarf. Sure he was a younger dwarf, but good lord my muscles can only go so far. Especially after what I've just been through.

Tilting my head up I let his body slowly slide down from my head to the middle of my neck. His weight made my head sag a little bit, but that was to be expected.

Once I was sure Frerin wouldn't move from my neck I began my slow trek through the forest. If I thought I had been moving slow before then this was a snails pace. Half frozen. In the middle of winter.

Every minute that dragged by felt like hours, and at one point Frerin started to slip from my neck. I turned my head and quickly bit onto his arm. I cringed when I tasted blood so I eased my grip and held him in place before readjusting him and moving on.

I tried passing the time by counting every piece of grass I walked by…yeah, I was that bored. Lugging someone's body through the woods at one mile an hour was not pleasant. A few times I made myself take a break which consisted of me laying down with Frerin's body laying across my neck. No way was I going to try and get him back on top of me.

It must have been a good couple of hours before I broke free from the forest. At first I hadn't even noticed it, but when I came across the dead body of an orc I looked up from the ground and felt like celebrating. I almost did until I realized that a) I shouldn't celebrate for seeing a battlefield full of dead people, and b) Frerin would end up falling off of me.

I looked out over the battlefield and was grateful to see there were still dwarves making their way through the bodies in the ground. Though I suppose that technically shouldn't have been a happy thought, it was for me in that moment.

Seeing the distance that still laid between me and the other dwarves made me want to faint, but I held strong and tried winding my way through the bodies instead of jumping over them. If I jumped it would dislodge Frerin, and I was not about to let that happen here.

Hoping that if I got distracted by my thoughts like I had earlier then the distance wouldn't seem so far away, I started to think about Frerin. For one he was supposed to have died during the battle, and I guess technically he was, but I stopped it from happening. I wondered what kind of consequences that would have on the storyline.

I was a little disappointed in myself for worrying over the storyline. Just because Frerin is alive doesn't necessarily cause any drastic changes. It's possible he will come on the journey to Erebor, but I doubt his brother or sister would let him. Having one heir to the throne going against a dragon infested mountain was enough.

I sighed audibly, _'I need to go to sleep.'_ My stomach growled, _'Right after I get something to eat.'_

Shaking away my thoughts I found that my plan to immerse myself in my thoughts to pass time had worked, and I was just passing by two dwarves who were picking up a fallen comrade and carrying him off.

I examined the large group of dwarves and realized they were all doing the same thing: picking up a dwarf and carrying him away. Two dwarves passed by, and when they caught sight of me bowed their heads with a slight "Fróthi" before continuing on.

 _'I'm going to find out what that means if it's the last thing I do!'_

Carefully checking out each dwarf that were carrying away the dead I tried to find Thorin, and it wasn't until one of the dwarves cautiously walked up to me that I found out where he was.

The dwarf gave a quick bow, "Are you looking for prince Thorin?"

I gave him a shrewd look before giving a sharp nod. He seemed surprised that I had answered, but nevertheless pointed off to my left, "He's talking to Dwalin, son of Fundin." With a nod of thanks I began my slow trudge off in the direction the dwarf pointed me in.

Sure enough, there he was talking to another dwarf who had quite the impressive mohawk. I announced my presence with a grunt.

Mohawk, who I assumed to be Dwalin, immediately unsheathed one of his battle axes and spun around, ready to take on any danger that might be left. When Thorin saw who it was that made the grunt, he immediately laid a hand on Dwalin's shoulder, "It's alright my friend. This is the bear that I told you about." Dwalin immediately relaxed his hold on his ax, but I noticed he didn't put it away.

Thorin either didn't notice this, or ignored it as he looked at me with slight confusion, "I thought you had left."

I nodded, _'I did but,'_ setting my head down I allowed Frerin to roll off of my neck, _'your brother got in my way.'_ The loss of weight was a huge relief, and with a tilt of my head I heard a loud pop. _'Ah.'_

Dwalin gave a gruff laugh, "He came back to give you a gift." He sneered at the word gift, probably thinking it was some dead dwarf I picked up.

With a dangerous snarl I thrust my head forward as far as it could go. I would have stepped forward had my leg not been all jacked up.

My response startled the both of them, but Dwalin was the one with the weapon, "Keep your distance, Fróthi." He said my new nickname with such a mocking tone I felt my snarl deepen, if that was possible.

"Dwalin!" Thorin's tone was sharper than my teeth, "Shazara!"

 _'Oh I know that one!'_ Happy that I knew the word, and that Dwalin got snapped at I immediately calmed down. That seemed to surprise them as well.

"So what'd you bring us, boy?"

Dwalin may have been shown his place, but he still got my gender wrong. Just for that I snarled at him (again), and made a show of sitting down and gesturing to my nonexistent balls, _'Do I look like a boy to you, bitch?'_

My actions made a light blush appear on Dwalin's cheeks, while Thorin smiled with clear amusement, " _She_ told you Dwalin." Dwalin started grumbling to himself, and Thorin laughed at him.

Decided we had chatted for long enough I bent over and hooked my nose underneath Frerin's shoulder until I was able to roll him onto his back. Now they could see I didn't bring some random body from the field.

When Thorin caught sight of Frerin's face he immediately kneeled by his side and began checking for vitals. When it turned out Frerin was still breathing–and wasn't that a relief?–Thorin lifted his brother into his arms and started barking at Dwalin in Khuzdul.

Knowing better than to go against his princes orders Dwalin immediately began following after him. When he noticed I was just standing there he gestured for me to come, "You should come as well. You need to get that shoulder checked."

 _'Ah damn, he's right.'_ Sighing a bears sigh I slowly lifted myself onto my useful legs and began hopping in the general direction Dwalin had just gone.

When we reached our destination I had not been expecting to see a large camp sight covering the ground for as far as the eye could see. Apparently this was where all of the dwarves had stayed before the battle.

Dwalin had been thoughtful enough not to walk too far ahead of me, though I figured the pace I was going was probably driving him crazy, I couldn't bring myself to care.

Eventually he stopped in front of a tent that was a bit larger than the others, and a dark blue instead of beige. Dwalin opened up the tents flap and gestured for me to follow after him.

With a little hesitation I did as he said, and found the tent wasn't the healers tent like I initially thought it would be, but it was someone's actual tent. There was a cot in the corner that Frerin was laying on with an unfamiliar dwarf tending to his injuries.

When Thorin saw the two of us enter his tent he motioned for me to lay in the corner opposite from the cot, "Lay down over there, and once Óin is done tending to Frerin he will help stitch up your nose and shoulder. Dwalin," he looked over at his long-time friend, "thank you. You may go." Dwalin left the tent with a small bow, and Thorin followed right after him, "I shall come back in a little while with something to eat," and he was gone.

I followed Thorins orders and made sure to lay down on my right side so the wound was easier to access. _'While the thought of food sounds amazing,'_ I rested my head on my paws, _'sleep sounds even better.'_

* * *

 **Fróthi** : Guardian

 _Palay_ : Filth


	4. Still TA 2799

_'Thoughts'_

* * *

Waking up had not been a pleasant experience for me. My tongue felt thick and tasted gross, my stomach felt as though I hadn't eaten in ten years, and my shoulder and face itched like all get out. When I opened my eyes to see a bowl of apples it made my day considerably better.

I was in the process of choking down an apple when a voice interrupted me, "I am glad you like them. They weren't sure if you preferred fruit or meat."

When I turned towards the owner of the voice I immediately felt silly with an entire apple shoved in my mouth. I ever so slowly let it fall from my mouth, and it hit the ground with a muffled thump.

The blonde dwarf chuckled, but soon stopped with a wince and pressed his hand to his chest, "I heard you were the one who saved me yesterday."

 _'Yesterday? Has it really been a full day?'_

As if he could read my thoughts the dwarf nodded, "It has indeed been a full day. I only woke up around an hour ago myself." His hazel eyes turned to me, "I hear the dwarves have started calling you Fróthi." He chuckled, "A very accurate description."

My shoulders sagged as I internally sighed, _'I'm just going to ignore it for now.'_

"Look at me, up for an hour and I'm talking to a bear," he shook his head as he stared at the ceiling of the tent, "This battle has driven me mad."

Feeling a little offended I huffed and turned my back on him.

The dwarf only laughed at me, "Alright I'm sorry. I'm sorry! You make a much better companion than my thoughts."

Internally I forgave him, but on the outside I just bent down and bit into one of the apples sitting in the wooden bowl. _'This is the best apple I've ever eaten.'_ I'd always preferred green apples, and this one tasted fresh with a nice crunch. Nothing like the soft store bought ones at home.

"I suppose it'd be best to introduce myself," it seemed the dwarf has begun rambling now, "I am Frerin, son of Thráin." I had figured he was Frerin, but to have him confirm it almost made me choke on my apple. "Thorin is my older brother. Have you met him? Well obviously you have, he's the one who named you Fróthi. I wonder why?"

 _'If I knew what it meant then maybe I could tell you.'_ It seemed this nickname would haunt me forever.

"Well I suppose it's really obvious since you saved me, but then what did you do to make Thorin give you that name? It must have been something very important because he isn't the most trusting dwarf."

 _'Heaven forbid he says the meaning of the word.'_ I bit into my second apple.

"I'll have to ask him when he comes in. I'm surprised he hasn't already. He's always been a bit overprotective of me, you know? I can't imagine why." He said it in such an innocent tone that I snorted. _'No doubt he has a perfectly good reason.'_

"Now don't laugh at me, I'm an angel. Kind of like you." I slowly chewed on my apple as I turned to give Frerin an odd look. "I know it's kind of sappy, but you are my angel. You have a severe injury on your shoulder, and if what I've heard through these tent walls are true then you carried me all the way here from the forest. That is no easy feat."

At the mention of my wounds I tilted my head to look, and if I had eyebrows they would be reaching my hairline. Apparently some time while I was asleep someone had taken a thread and needle and stitched my wound closed. I had to go crosseyed to see the same thing had been done to the gash on my face. ' _That explains the itching,'_ I sighed in despair, _'That also means I can't itch them.'_

"Considering how confused you look then it must have been stitched up while we were sleeping." Frerin shook his head at himself, "I rearly have gone mad. Talking to a bear because he looks confused."

I audibly growled, _'Again with the gender!'_

"Whoa, wait! I didn't mean to offend you!" My growl seemed to have really startled him.

Feeling bad that I startled him with my frustration with the world, I whined apologetically. As a peace offering I lightly bit down on one of my apples, and I was careful not to breath or let my lips touch it as I walked over and set it in his lap.

Frerin cautiously picked up the apple, and after giving it a calculating look he shrugged and bit into it. He waved the apple around on the air, "Apology accepted."

I wrinkled my nose at the fact he spoke with his mouth full, and he just laughed at my reaction.

Frerin's laughter was cut off when the entrance of the tent was pulled aside to reveal Thorin in deep conversation with an unfamiliar dwarf.

I heard the whispered words of "Cover me!" before Frerin went limp in feigned sleep. Going so far as to give light snores. If I didn't know any better I would have actually believed him to be asleep.

Not sure why he didn't want the other dwarves to know he was awake I just huffed, and turned my attention to the two dwarves.

The unfamiliar dwarf was the first to realize I was awake, and apparently he didn't like my close proximity with Frerin because he narrowed his eyes at me, "Give him some air you great beast!" He strapped over and gestured with his hands to back up.

Not happy with being called a great beast I did the exact opposite of what the dwarf wanted me to do, and shoved my head closer to his. Our foreheads nearly knocked together, and with our close proximity I could see his fear hidden behind an indifferent facade.

"Fróthi." I didn't take my eyes away from the dwarfs, but I tilted my head to let Thorin know I was listening, "This is our healer, Óin. He's been assigned to take care of you and Frerin, and I advise you listen to him. At least for the time being."

 _'Óin? I wonder…'_ Releasing a growled breath I grudgingly leaned away, and took a few steps back so I could continue eating my apples.

The encounter left the air heavy with tension, only to be broken by a particularly loud snore from Frerin. I snorted a laugh, and swiveled my head to look at his "sleeping" form.

Thorin sighed with exasperation, but I could see the fondness in his eyes. "How is he doing?" He asked Óin.

"His leg should heal nicely, and we'll know more on his concussion when he wakes up. He has three cracked ribs that will cause the most pain. He'll have to take it easy for the next six weeks or so."

Thorin nodded with weary acceptance, "And Fróthi?"

"Foolish bear nearly ruined the muscles in his shoulder!" Óin sent a dark look my way, but I just snarled back. Mostly for being referred to as a boy. Again. "Any more damage and you would have lost your arm!"

The news hit me pretty hard. I flexed my paw as if to make sure it was still there and mobile. _'I hadn't realized…'_

"It's thanks to _her_ my brother is alive right now." Just like before, Thorin put extra emphasis on the fact I'm actually a girl.

 _'Why assume I'm a guy in the first place?'_ Of course whenever I see an unfamiliar animal I refer to them as a boy, so I can cut them some slack.

"Well," Óin huffed, " _she_ needs to take it easy as well. Her wounds are in danger of infection, from the amount of blood and dirt that got in them. I cleaned them as best I could, but the risk is still there. Any hard running will reopen the wound on her shoulder. Same with eating. Hunting might be a problem for her 'cause it might cause the stitches on her face to tear."

"She seems perfectly content eating fruits." Thorin gestured to the empty bowl that had previously been filled with delicious apples.

"Then hopefully she'll realize she needs to be careful." Óin rifled through his small pack and pulled out a bowl full of foul smelling paste, "I need to spread this over her wounds. It will help fight any infections." He looked at Thorin, "She seems to like you, so why don't you…"

Already planning on cooperating I stretched out on my right side so my shoulder wound was easily accessible. By the time I was finished adjusting my position Óin finished telling Thorin his plan on getting me to sit still. They both moved to put their plan in action, but when they turned to see me waiting patiently they were both surprised.

"I probably shouldn't be so shocked," Thorin commented out loud, "I already knew she was intelligent. More so than any animal I've ever met."

"You think she understands us, Prince Thorin?" Óin asked roughly.

Thorin nodded, "Aye."

Óin 'hm'ed to himself, "You gonna let me put this on ye?" He gestured to the bowl of smelly paste.

I lifted my head and nodded in acceptance, this sent his eyebrows halfway up his forehead, "I see you weren't kidding when you said she was intelligent, Prince Thorin."

Óin approached me cautiously and I could see his form was tense, as if ready to dodge out of the way if I become a danger. He stuck two fingers into the paste, and slowly stretched them too my shoulder. For a brief moment his eyes flicked to mine before he smeared the medicinal paste onto my stitches.

My body immediately jerked, and I let out a pained growl. _'That stings!'_

"Be quiet you overgrown baby!" Óin snapped, continuing to smear the paste as if I nothing happened. I sucked in a sharp breath and glared at him, forcing myself to be still.

"What was that?" Thorin had walked closer so he could watch what Óin was doing.

Óin sighed, "Suppose I could have warned her it'd sting." He shrugged, "Ah well."

Gathering another glob onto his fingers he brought them towards my face this time. Now that I knew the stuff stung like all get out I cleached my jaws to prepare myself. Without fail, as soon as the stuff touched my wounded face, I had to swallow back another growl of pain. _'Good god why not just leave it alone?'_

By the time the paste was covering the entirety of the wound my face felt like it was on fire. The pain I my shoulder already passed, and it took a couple minutes for the pain in my face to recede as well.

Once it was gone I was able to focus on the conversation between Thorin and Óin. They had moved to stand by Frerin's bedside. "They should both be just fine. Well just have to keep an eye on them."

Thorin nodded without taking his eyes off of his brother, "I understand, but we cannot stay here until he is fully healed. Winter will soon be upon us, and I plan to be in Ered Luin by then."

"I'm sorry to say Prince Thorin, but we'll have to see how he feels about travel when he wakes up. You must remember he was not the only one hurt in this battle."

Knowing that Frerin wasn't actually asleep I quietly stalked forward. When I was right next to Óin I slightly nudged him away so I could stand right beside Frerin's face. Before either of them could ask what I was doing I drew a deep breath before loudly roaring right in Frerin's ear.

He immediately responded with a frightened yell as he jerked away from me. Once I saw he'd stopped feigning sleep I stopped roaring.

"What was that for?" Frerin had a hand pressed against his ribs as he looked at me like I was crazy. All I did was snicker, which kind of sounded like I was choking. Óin and Thorin were giving me the same look as Frerin, but Throin seemed to understand what happened first and scowled at his brother, "You've been awake all this time?"

Frerin shrunk under his older brothers rather intimidating stare, "Yes?"

Thorin closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Your injuries need to be looked at Frerin."

"That's why I was sleeping in the first place!" Frerin whined.

Huffing another laugh I contented myself with laying down, (careful not to lay on my left side) and watching the two elder dwarves reprimand the younger.

* * *

I had to wait until Frerin fell asleep before making my move. He talked with me for the entire day–not that I minded, but it wasn't really a conversation. More like a never ending monologue that I couldn't respond to.

He had been in the middle of telling me about the prank he and his sister pulled on Thorin when his voice finally tapered off. I had nearly fallen asleep myself and resigned to leave the next night, but once I heard a light snore my heavy eyelids shot open.

At first I was relieved, but then I felt suspicion. He had done a pretty good job pretending to be asleep when Thorin and Óin were here earlier that afternoon, what's to say he isn't doing it again?

Even if he was I knew this might be my first and only chance to get out of here. So, quiet as I could possibly be, I lifted myself off of the ground and made my way for the entrance of the tent.

I cautiously stuck out my head to check for any nearby dwarves. When I didn't find any I sent one last look at Frerin's sleeping form, and a smile tugged at my lips. The sight was almost enough to make me stay, but I knew I couldn't. It's not like I wanted to leave Thorin or Frerin behind, but I needed to. I needed to find someone who could teach me how to live here in Middle-Earth (right after I figured out how to turn back into a human).

And like I always say, need and want are two different things.

My decision to leave the dwarves behind had not been my first choice. I wanted to stay and see what Thorin was like, but then I realized that I would be deceiving them. I would be living amongst the dwarves, who all think I'm just a really intelligent bear, when in actuality I'm a human girl.

The thought had not sat well with me, and that was why I decided I would leave. If I am capable of turning back to a girl then I would need to learn anything that could help me in the future for when I have to save Thorin and his nephews. However, if I am incapable of turning, and end up being stuck as a polar bear for the rest if my life then I would still technically have to leave so I could improve my form. But if that's the case I could stay closer to the dwarves.

Either way I'm leaving the dwarves.

By the time I made it to the edge of the camp I had an ache in my shoulder, and was silently cursing Thorin for having his tent in the middle of the encampment. There hadn't been that many dwarves out, but the few who had seen me didn't make any moves to stop me.

I was just about to disappear into the woods when a voice stopped me, "Yer leavin?"

Vaguely recognizing the voice I turned around to see a familiar dwarf with a mokhawk atop his head. I internally sighed. Of course it's Dwalin who stops me. _'Probably one of the only dwarves who could.'_ Still, it was pretty cool talking to one of the dwarves from the Company.

"Thorin won't be too happy when he finds out you've gone." He obviously hadn't expected for me to answer. "He doesn't show it, but he's grateful. You saved both his and his brothers life yesterday. That was enough to earn a title amongst us khazâd, and that's no easy feat."

Dwalin took slow steps forward, and I allowed him to place a hesitant hand upon my head, careful not to touch my stitches, "You saved not just princes, but my friends. And for that I must thank you." His hand slipped off of my head and he took a step back. "I will not try and stop you, but if Thorin asks I will tell him you left."

Bowing my head in silent acknowledgment I slowly turned and lumbered towards the trees. I took one last glance at the dwarf watching my retreat, and wondered if I would get to see him, or anyone else, again before the journey to reclaim Erebor.

* * *

 **AN: This one was kinda short, but I don't mind. Just a fill in chapter before I can get to the good stuff.**

 **In case you forgot: Fróthi=Guardian**


	5. Ugh (TA 2799)

**AN: Okay people lets get something straight here, Thorin is not a pervert! Like I said in the summary the romance won't be until _later chapters._ You know that was the Azanulbizar right? And that battle was like, over a hundred years before the Company got together? I made Amber have the lifespan of an elf for a reason you know. By the time she sets off with the company she'll be like 140. But don't worry I'll try not to take too many chapters to get there.**

 _'Thoughts'_

 _"{Sindarin}"_

 _'Mind Speech'_

* * *

It took three days before I ran into another person, and thankfully it hadn't been a dwarf coming to drag me back. (Though why they'd do that I don't know).

The first day of wandering was spent trying to find something to eat and drink, while simultaneously trying to change back into my human body. I failed on the latter two, but at one point I ran into a herd of deer.

Their ears had been standing at attention, obviously having heard me walking up, but none of them bolted away. I briefly considered continuing along and ignoring the deer, but a sensible part of my mind remembered how delicious venison was. Add the fact that I was in the body of a hungry bear, and I ended up bursting out of the foliage and chasing after the deer.

Polar bears may be the biggest land animal, but they definitely aren't the fastest. Either way I chased after the deer until I could no longer see them. Even then I still still slowly jogged in the direction they ran.

When the adrenaline bled out of my body I felt pain in my left shoulder. I winced at the reminder that my wound was still healing, and when I looked back to check on it the stitches thankfully hadn't ripped, but they were slightly inflamed.

I swung my head forward just in time for my foot to land directly in a puddle of water. When I looked down I found out that it wasn't just a puddle, but I had stumbled upon a wide river.

The sight and smell of water made my mouth part open, and if I'm not mistaken I drooled a little bit. Despite having stitches I wasted no time prancing into the water.

All of the blood and dirt that accumulated on my fur washed away with the water, and I had to swim farther out so I could find some water that was clean enough to drink. Thankfully the river was fairly clear and I didn't have to worry about getting some kind of bacteria.

Swimming around in the river had been greatly relaxing, and I stayed on the bank for the night. I followed the river all day the next morning, and when I heard a splash I taught myself the difficult arts of fishing as a bear. As it turns out it was easier for me to fish while I was under water since, you know, I was a polar bear, and they can swim.

When I first caught a fish I felt like celebrating, but then I realized I didn't have any way to cook it. It probably took me a good ten minutes of internal debate before I tentatively took the small fish in my mouth and choked it down. Immediately after biting into it I tasted flavor ranging from the fresh water of the river to blood, and the crunch of scales and bones.

Even though the fish had been raw, it reminded me of sushi. It definitely wasn't the worst thing I've ever eaten.

With that thought in mind I ended up hunting for fish again for lunch, dinner, and then breakfast the following morning. My lunch, however, had been interrupted.

I had finally gotten tired of eating slimy, uncooked fish, so I decided I would continue my journey through the forest that lined the river beside me. My hope had been to find some sort of berry, or maybe another herd of deer, but instead I came face to face with the head of an arrow.

My eyes were locked on the arrows tip, which was pointed right between my eyes, and after taking a few cautious steps back I looked up and locked eyes with the most beautiful guy I've ever seen.

Now usually would describe a man as handsome, but the man I was looking at had such fair features he couldn't be anything other than beautiful. His long golden blonde hair reached his waist, and there were two braids starting at his temples that continued to the back of his head. I assumed they were used to keep his hair out of his blue eyes. His cheekbones were sharp, and his nose narrow.

The man watched me with narrowed eyes, _"{What is this?}"_

My head tilted to the side, and I looked at the man with curiosity. _'What did he just say?'_ The language the man spoke had been lyrical and soothing. Something that I had yet to hear…anywhere. None of the dwarves had spoken it.

That was when I noticed there was something in his hair. At first I thought they were just some sort of accessories, but then I realized they weren't accessories, they were ears. His hair fell in such a way that his pointed ears were displayed openly, and I wanted to hit myself for not noticing sooner.

I whined and slowly sat myself down on the ground. The elf (not a man) raised an elegant brow, and when I bowed my head in respect they both went up.

 _"{This is a strange occurrence indeed}"._ The elf ever-so-slowly lowered his bow. He held it loosely in one hand, but he never moved to put it away.

Hoping I don't scare the elf off I leaned my head forward as far as I could go, and when I couldn't go any farther I pushed up onto my feet.

The elf tightened his grip on his bow, and I paused in my advance. I looked into the elf's eyes and saw nothing but caution. Something that was no doubt mirrored in my own.

I kept my eyes locked on his own as I began moving forward once again. As I got closer I started sniffing at the air around the elf to find that he smelled of grass and some sort of flower.

The elf seemed to come to the conclusion that I wasn't going to hurt him, and he stretched out the hand that wasn't holding the bow. He made no move to get closer to me, allowing me to come to him.

My black nose gently brushed against the elf's fingers, and I took a deeper breath to try and place the flower smell, but I just couldn't place it. Not that I smell flowers on a regular basis, but I knew enough to know he smelled flowery.

 _"{I've never encountered an animal such as this}"._

The elf was murmuring to himself, but since I didn't know anything he was saying I just ignored him, much like I did when the dwarves called me Fróthi. Instead I much preferred when he scratched me behind the ears.

He slowly dragged is fingers through my rough fur, and when he placed his hand in my head one of his fingers brushed against the stitching in my face.

The sudden touch startled me more than hurt me, but it still caused me to roar out in pain.

My roar startled the elf into pulling forward s now to re-aim his arrow. I paid him no attention as I tried to press my paw against the wound to try and make the jolts of pain go away.

I sat there with my paw hovering just over my snout, and when the pain faded I slowly set it back onto the ground. When I looked over I saw the elf was now taking his time to thoroughly examine my body. I would have been flattered if I were human, but his eyes only lingered on my shoulder and my face.

 _"{You are injured?}"_

Just from his tone I could tell he had asked me a question, but I couldn't speak…Sindarin? Yeah, Sindarin. So I couldn't answer his question. Not that I can speak English right now either.

 _"{Can you understand me?}"_ I stared at him. "Are you injured?"

When I heard the question spoken in a language I understood I grunted, and bobbed my head in agreement.

"Ah," the elf smiled, "so you understand Westron?"

 _'Oh, right. It's not English here, it's Westron. Same difference.'_ Grunting seemed to be the only way for me to communicate so I did it again.

"Come, nim graw. I know someone who may help you." The use of another nickname in a language I didn't know made my ears twitch in irritation, but I decided I would have much better luck staying with the elf then continuing to travel alone.

We walked along in silence. The only thing that could be heard was the soft crunch of leaves and twigs beneath my feet, and the sounds of wildlife living in the forests branches.

 _'Who are you?'_

I let out a distressed groan, and looked around wildly for the source of the mysterious voice.

 _'Do not be alarmed, Traveler.'_

 _'How can you tell me not to be alarmed when there's a creepy voice in my head?!'_ The elf had stopped walking to watch me with confusion, but then after a quiet moment his eyes slightly widened in understanding.

"Do not worry nim graw, that is the Lady Galadriel. The Lady of the Wood."

 _'You're Galadriel?'_ I felt excitement grow in the pit of my stomach. Another character from The Lord of the Rings!

 _'That sounds like an interesting story, child. I would be delighted if you shared it with me.'_ The voice disappeared as suddenly as it came, and any chance of speaking with her gained no answer.

The elf led me over many twisting paths that finally ended at the top of way too many stairs. When we reached the top I was lightly panting from the length of the journey here, and I felt a pang of jealousy that the elf was breathing at the same steady rate as when I first met him.

 _"{That will be all Haldir}"_ Haldir bowed to his Lady and swiftly turned to walk back down the stairs. I watched him go with wide eyes, and looked at the woman who sent him away.

Standing in the bottom of yet another staircase was a woman of such ethereal beauty she put the other elf to shame. Her hair was a golden white that glowed when light touched it, and there was a circlet of silver sitting atop her head. Her light blue eyes were staring at me kindly, even though the rest of her face remained stoic.

The male elf next to her may not have been as beautiful as her, but he was more so than my elf guide. He had long silver hair, and braids that kept his hair from falling into his face. His face was stoic, and his dark blue eyes were blank.

 _'Why are you here as a bear, child?'_

I looked at Galadriel and sheepishly scuffed my paw against the ground, _'I don't know how to change back.'_

Lady Galadriel's lips twitched up in the phantom of a smile, _'And why have you come here?'_

 _'I did not come here on purpose. That elf found me while I was searching for food.'_ I did the bear equivalent of a grimace, _'Raw fish is only so appetizing.'_

The sound of bells tinkled through the air, and I realized Galadriel was laughing, "Then I believe it would be prudent to feed our guest. We cannot have you starve on our watch."

Not about to argue with the offer of food I readily agreed to follow her and who I assumed to be her husband. I wondered at the fact I was walking with the Galadriel, but then I felt worry. _'Erm, my lady? Can you see all of my thoughts?'_

Her eyes flicked down to me as she pulled aside the opening flap to a large tent, _'Yes.'_

 _'Then you know where I am from? Why I am here?'_

Galadriel's eyes sparkled, _'Yes.'_

 _'Can you help me?'_

She ushered me into the tent, and I was greeted with the sight of different fruits piled onto plates, with lettuce and vegetables stuffed where they can fit. Seeing the lack of meat sent a wave of relief through me. I'd had enough of it for the last few days.

The three of us took our seats at the table…well…Galadriel and Celeborn sat at the table while a plate was made for me and set on the ground so I could reach it.

The meal was about halfway through, and I was just sitting there eating my fruit in awkward silence when I heard a voice in my head. _'Yes.'_

I looked up from my plate with hopeful eyes, _'You'll help me?'_

 _'I cannot see the details of your thoughts child, you will have to explain what you need help with, but I will do what I can to help you.'_

It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of my shoulders, and I gave her the bear equivalent of a smile, _'Thank you my lady. I don't know how I'll ever repay you.'_

Galadriel got a twinkle in her eye that almost made me regret my words, _'You can start by telling me about your journey to Middle-Earth.'_

My head bobbed in agreement, _'Well, I guess you already know that I'm not from around here…'_

* * *

 **AN: Kinda short, but that's okay.**


	6. TA 2799-2802

_"{Sindarin}"_

 _"Mind speech"_

* * *

My first night in Lothlórien was spent telling Galadriel my story. How I was laying in bed one second and speaking to Eru the next. Then about how he put me in Middle-Earth wearing nothing but my pajamas, and then getting turned into a bear to help the dwarves fight against the orcs.

After I was finished she gave me a warm smile and set her palm against my forehead while whispering some form of elvish under her breath. It sent a wave of warmth through my body, and all of my fur fell away to reveal tan arms and pajama clad legs.

The first thing I did was look at my hands in wonder, and then laugh hysterically. When I put my head in my hands I found out that my wounds stayed no matter what form I was in. That means the stitches on my face and shoulder were still there, if a little warped from the body change.

The following morning I was woken up at the crack of dawn by some elf informing me that Galadriel requested my presence. When I went to see her Galadriel informed me she was willing to help me with the Eru's task. I accepted her help readily, and she assigned an elf to teach me swordplay, another to teach me archery, and another to teach me Sindarin (since I really wanted to learn it). Galadriel herself chose to help me with my transformations.

I spent the next three years learning everything the elves had to teach me. My swordsmanship excelled once I was able to pick one up without tipping over. My lessons in Sindarin went pretty quick as well–which surprised me since I've taken a couple Spanish classes before and could only remember half of the words. Though it probably helps to be surrounded by people who speak the language.

Archery, as it turns out, was not as easy. Sure I was able to pull back the string thanks to the muscles that formed from using a sword, but aiming was something else entirely. What skills I did gain could be used for hunting, but I would never be an expert.

When Galadriel first began teaching me I thought I would only be learning how to control my ability to change from human to bear, and vice versa. As it turns out I was able to turn into any animal I've seen before. Once I gained better control it wasn't unusual for the elves to see me prowling around as a lion, or a wolf.

Of course not every elf knows the strange animals are actually me, but they are smart enough to put facts together. The appearance of a strange bear, then a young human girl suddenly living in the forest, followed by even more strange animals. It's not hard to realize I'm the animals. I just don't tell anybody the truth, and they don't ask.

After those three years of learning everything I could with the elves I woke up with an odd feeling in my chest. I went through my usual routine of sword training where my teacher, Ardinor, noticed my lack of concentration.

 _"{What is on your mind small one?}"_

I sighed at the nickname, _"{I'm seventeen years old Ardinor. I'm almost an adult!}"_

If he were a human Ardinor would have snorted, but being the composed elf that he is he only gave a small smirk, _"{Even when you come of age you will be small to me}"._ Just to irritate me Ardinor easily ruffled my hair. He was a good foot or so taller than I was.

I irritably pushed him away from me, _"{Cut it out elf boy, you know I hate that}"._ I brandished the broadsword that was given to me.

Ardinor easily blocked my attack, "{ _Tell me what's wrong Amber}"._

For a couple moments I was too busy parrying his advances to speak, but once we were disengaged we circled each other, _"{I just feel odd }"._

 _"{Odd how?}"_ He lunged forward and feigned to the left.

Thankfully after years of his teaching I was able to see his intentions, and blocked him, _"{It's like, this weird feeling in my chest–}"._

Ardinor immediately stopped, _"{Are you sick?}"_

 _"{No, no! It's not that!}"_ Last time I was sick just about every elf visited me to make sure I was alright. Being the youngest being in the entire forest had its drawbacks. _"{Kind of like I need to do something}"._

Ardinor raised a perfectly sculpted brow, _"{I'm not sure if you noticed, small one, but we are doing something}"._

 _"{I meant something else! After this I'm going to Íladra for more Sindarin lessons–that I no longer need–and then I'm going to my archery lessons. It's been the same routine for the last three years, and I think I'm getting sick of it!}"_. I plunged my blade into the grass, and rubbed my temples.

 _"{Amber,}"_ his voice was soothing. More so than usual, _"{are you saying you're bored?}"._

I took a deep breath, _"{Yes, I think so}"._

 _"{Then it's nothing to get so worked up over. Everyone gets bored at some point, though for elves it usually takes another few decades to get bored with their routine}"._

I snorted _"{Because you people have an eternal patience nobody else has}"._

Ardinor chuckled, _"{I suppose that is true}"._ He sheathed his sword with a sigh, _"{I think we can be done for the day}"._

With a grateful nod I sheathed my own, _"{Thank you, Ardinor}"_. When we first started these lessons I would always call him 'master', but then during one of our spar's I got angry and called him a tree-shagger. In retaliation he called me a round-ear. Apparently it was supposed to be an insult, but all it did was make me laugh. We've been close ever since.

Sending Ardinor one last goodbye I wandered back into the forest. When I was a safe distance from the clearing I shifted into the form of a panther, and ran deeper into the trees.

After a little while I shifted from a panther, and into a horse. It took me a while before I was able to transform in mid-run, but I've perfected it. Once I was able to do it I wondered to myself about how I could never do it before. It was so simple.

The color of my coat changed as well, now that I was no longer a panther. Seeing as how panthers have distinct black coats that was the color mine would turn as well, but when I turn into an animal whose coloring can vary mine always changes into a reddish-orange color. The same as my hair. As a horse I'm reddish-orange, same as being a dog, or when I'm a bird my feathers are reddish with an orange tint in the sunlight.

I always took joy in being a horse because it made me feel free. It was never quite the same as running as a deer or a lion. I've always thought of horses as being free (if that makes sense), so that must be the reason why.

It doesn't hurt that in this form I get to race against the other horses that live in Lothlórien. I have yet to win any, but I can tell that I've gotten faster thanks to the sheer amount of running I've had to do to try and win.

There is one horse that's always been my favorite though. His head was pure white, but as you go down his body he becomes a dapple grey that morphs into black just in the top of his rump. Both his mane and tail were black, while three legs had white socks and the back right was black.

Unfortunately the horse held no love for the elves, or humans as we all found out. If the elves got to close he would just whinny and dash off into the trees, and when the elves tried using me they got the same result.

Although I noticed he hadn't run away as soon as he saw me like he did with the elves. That small fact gave me all the determination I needed to try and befriend that horse. Each time I tried approaching him I got the same result, and I would always tell myself to give up, but then I would think that all it would take was one more day and something would happen, so I couldn't give up yet.

That day seemed so impossible that when I saw him tense in preparation to bolt I threw my arms up in defeat, and changed into a horse to neigh at him. Afterwards I snorted in satisfaction and happily began trotting away.

That moment was when I found out Captain, the name I gave him, preferred the company of horses. He could tolerate my human form after that, but I always made sure to turn into a horse at some point to ease him.

Captain was just the horse I was looking for. At some point he became a sort of confidant that I've told just about everything to, and this was something I wanted to share with him. It wasn't every day that I became bored.

Somewhere in the forest next to me I heard his familiar whinny, and I made sure to slow down until I was at a comfortable walk. It wasn't long after that that I was able to hear the thumping of hooves against the ground, and soon enough he was walking right alongside me.

To warn him I was changing back I brushed his neck with my snout. It was the only way I could think to warn him, and after a few times he seemed to catch on.

When I was standing on two legs I patted his side with my hand, _"{I have a bit of a problem Captain.}"_ His ears were swiveled back to let me know he was listening to me, _"{I'm bored. Not just the usual boredom I've feel in between my lessons, but a deep rooted sense of pure_ something _. Something that's telling me to…leave.}"_

As soon as the word left my mouth the feeling in my chest grew more intense and I knew, I knew, that that was exactly what I was feeling. Maybe not boredom, but a sense of restlessness that was telling me I should be doing something. Something more than hiding out in an elvish forest–even though it's beneficial.

 _"{There's gotta be something I can do out in the world. I don't know if I can wait until the formation of the Company. It won't be for another–pfft. What year is it now? 2802 of the third age or some such. The Company doesn't form for another…hundred and thirty-nine years.}"_

Captain nickered, and bobbed his head up and down as if he understood the meaning of my words.

I patted his flank with a sigh, and his skin shuddered underneath my touch, _"{I'll ask Galadriel if I can go somewhere. Anywhere. I can always use the excuse that I need to experience the real world. I'll let you know what happens}"._ Turning back into a horse I gave a lasting whinny of goodbye before trotting off in the direction of the kitchens. I was feeling peckish, and I wanted to grab something before I needed to meet with Íladra for more Sindarin lessons.

* * *

Walking up the many steps towards Galadriel's tent never seemed to get any easier, but I didn't succumb to the temptation of turning into a bird and just flying up their. Instead I sucked it up and climbed all fifty-one stairs (I counted).

 _"{Is Lady Galadriel in?}"_ Thankfully the elf didn't mention my heavy breathing.

 _"{She is. Do you request an audience?}"_ I nodded, _"{One moment}"_. The elf ducked into the tent, and I heard the low tones of conversation before the elf reemerged, _"{The Lady is waiting}"_. He pulled back the entrance of the tent for me, and I nodded in thanks.

Once I was inside the tent flap close behind me without a wisp of sound. _"{Lady Galadriel I have a request}"_. I figured I might as well get straight to the point.

 _"{You wish to leave Lothlórien}"._ I opened my mouth to deny it, but then immediately snapped it shut because that's technically exactly what I wanted to do. _"{I can understand why you would want to. You have learned as much as you are able under our tutelage, and now you need to leave. To go and venture into the real world where you can gain the experience you need. We've prepared you as much as we could, and now it's time for you to put it to the test}"._

I'm not sure what reaction I had been expecting, but it I'm pretty sure that hadn't been it. " _{You approve of my decision to leave?}"._

 _"{I believe it is a wise decision, but I will admit,}"_ Galadriel gave me a soft smile, _"{I will miss you should you choose to go}"._

I gave a sad chuckle, _"{I don't have to leave right away. I need to figure out where I want to go, and what I need to bring}"._

Galadriel kept her smile, _"{Then for the following week you may abandon your studies so you may search where it is you want to go, and write up a list of everything you will need}"._

 _"{Thank you, My Lady, that is most generous. I think I'd like to go to Gondor, or maybe Rohan}"_. Both of those cities were in the Lord of the Rings, and I knew for certain that I wanted to venture to both of them, but there was another reason.

Galadriel seemed to understand what that reason was; though, she can read minds, _"{You wish to return to a city of men}"._

I sheepishly nodded. The moment I got to Middle-Earth I was met with dwarves and orcs, soon followed by elves that I've been around for three years. There was a longing I hadn't even known existed until today to at least catch a glimpse of someone with round ears and my height.

 _"{Can I?}"_

 _"{The decision is not mine to make, but if you request it then you have my permission to go. You make take whatever supplies you'll need and pack them. Do not ask anyone what you should pack. That is something you can learn on your own}"._

 _"{Thank you Lady Galadriel!}"_ I almost threw myself at her to give her a hug, but I refrained just in time. _"{If I find everything by tonight can I leave in the morning?}"_

Galadriel raised her eyebrows, _"{I see no reason why not. Just make sure you say goodbye to the proper people}"._

I smiled, and bowed a little excessively, _"{Thank you! Thank you!}"._ I raced out of a tent with a speed that startled the elven guard standing outside of the tent.

My thoughts had been filled with nothing but ideas for what I wanted to do for a journey. Every time a new idea popped up I felt more and more excited. I knew Mirkwood was the closest city, but I didn't want to live with any more elves. Not that I don't like them, but I've been surrounded by them for three years. A break would be nice.

That lead me to my next three options. I thought of visiting the dwarves, but quickly scrapped the idea. From what I knew they weren't the most welcoming of races, and my presence would be looked upon with suspicion. Besides, if I somehow ended up seeing Thorin or Frerin I would end up saying something stupid.

The Shire was next on my list. I wanted to see Bilbo, and Frodo, and Bag End! But then I realized, with a heavy heart, that my favorite hobbits most likely haven't been born yet. As fun as it would be to visit The Shire I'm sure they're about as welcoming as the dwarves are.

Last but not least was the race of men. The thought of seeing another human being with the same structural build as me made excitement course through my veins. Naturally that was what made me make my final decision. Now it was only a matter of where I wanted to go, and how I would get there.

Looking over one of the maps of Middle-Earth I decided to go to Rohan first, since it was the closest city that was in one of the movies. True none of the movie characters would be there, but I could still see the city.

I stocked up on about two weeks of food, and for water I decided to travel alongside Anduin River. I shoved three more changes of clothes, along with a leather cloak I had an elf make me for whatever reason. Strapping a bedroll to the top of my pack I deemed myself ready for an adventure. Naturally I felt like I was forgetting something I would no doubt need at some point during my journey, but I would cross that bridge when I got to it.

My excitement nearly kept me up the whole night, but at some point I must have fallen asleep because I found myself waking up at dawn as I usually do. I briefly remembered how much of a struggle it was for me to wake up at this time, and it made me smile.

Shouldering my pack was a bit harder than I thought it was going to be, but eventually I got both straps onto my shoulders and I belted on my broadsword before I set out in search of my teachers

Ardinor was the first elf I went to, and as soon as he saw my pack he had a sad smile on his face because he knew I was leaving. After a brief hugging session he made me promise to come back every few years to visit so he may see what new skills I learned. I readily agreed, and when we parted neither of us mentioned the tears that threatened to fall.

My goodbye with Íladra was not nearly as hard as with Ardinor, but I still felt a sense of loss when we parted ways. The archery range was full of forlorn elves once they heard of my plans to leave. They encouraged me to stay with them at the range for just a few moments. Just enough time for an elf to run off, and return with a beautiful bow crafted just for me.

Despite my protests I ended up leaving the archery range with a black longbow, and a matching quiver filled with ivory arrows.

The last of my friends I visited was Captain. I approached him with caution as I do any other day, and gently explained to him that I would not be living in Lothlórien any more. I would come back of course, but I wouldn't be living there.

Captain, being the smart horse he is, seemed to understand what I was saying, and he bowed his head before wandering away. I watched him go with a fond sigh, and turned to head off in the general direction I needed to go in order to leave the forest.

The pack seemed to get heavier with each step I took, and in an effort to relieve some of the weight I shifted into my horse form. Just like my clothes, my pack and weapons seemed to disappear until there was nothing but hair to be seen on my body. I could still feel their weight, but if I turned to look I wouldn't see them. Where they go, I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to find out.

With the weight of the pack no longer resting solely on my shoulders it felt easier to walk. My shoulders weren't hurting, and my feet didn't ache.

I haven't even left Lothlórien and I'm already getting pains.

I went through the forest at a nice walk, but when I saw the edge of the trees that signaled I was almost out of the forest I couldn't help but break into a gallop. I broke through the tree line with an exhilarated whinny that I wouldn't be surprised if all of the elves in Lothlórien could hear.

 _'Be careful my child.'_ Galadriel's voice echoed through my mind, _'The road is a dangerous thing.'_

 _'I will My Lady, I will.'_

Another excited neigh sounded over the lands, but this one wasn't from me. I didn't slow down in case it turned out to be some form of danger, but when I looked to my right I saw Captain running through the trees parallel to me. He was running at an angle that eventually brought him about four feet away from me.

I snorted in silent question, and he just snorted back, as if to say 'of course I'm coming. Did you think I'd let you have all the fun?'

With a nicker of consent I turned my focus forward and continued running along the edge of the Anduin. If Captain wanted to come with me, then who was I to stop him?

In any case, it will be nice to have a bit of company on my one hundred and thirty nine year long journey. Who knows where the road will take me before its time to join Thorins Company?

* * *

 **AN: So how was it? I need feedback so I know whether you love it or not.**


	7. Dangerous Findings (TA 2802-2812)

_"{Sindarin}"_

* * *

Rohan was the first of many journeys I would be taking, but it was definitely one of my most adventurous. Technically it was adventurous because I decided to go there in my horse form when they were well known Rohirrim (horse-lords). Captain had abandoned me before we reached Rohan's borders, and at first I didn't understand why he left, but when I was led through one of the village's with a rope around my neck I had a pretty good idea.

Besides my initial panic that involved neighing, squealing, and bucking, I decided to just go along with it. From my captors expressions they were surprised and confused by my lack of fighting. Apparently when they captured horses they put up more of a fight.

They led me to the outskirts of the village where a large barn was buzzing with activity. Out of the five riders surrounding me only four (two on each side) climbed down from their saddles to lead their horses into the barn. The rider who had my lead rope tied to his saddle rode a little passed the barn where a small corral stood.

He untied the rope and slid down from his saddle. He gripped his horses reins and started pulling the both of us towards the corral. His pulling was a little more insistent with me, but that was probably because he thought I would be uncooperative.

For the rest of the day I was left to my own devices, and took my time to inspect my surroundings. I waited until the sun had set and there was nobody around before I morphed into a bird. From there I flew far away from the city, deciding it would be better to explore Rohan at a later date.

After I found Captain it was established that whenever we came near a city I would climb onto his back and ride until we made it to the city/town gates where I would get off and walk beside him. I made sure to stay beside him since the amount of people seemed to make him skittish.

Over the next six years I'd traveled to Rohan (twice), Gondor, Mirkwood (where Thranduil was such a sassy bitch I couldn't stand it), through Fangorn (unfortunately no Ents were seen), along the edge of the Misty Mountains, and finally, Rivendell.

There were no words to describe the beauty and serenity of the Last Homely House. It was a mirage of beautiful structures made of trees and marble with bridges overlooking small waterfalls.

When I first arrived I was covered in orc blood. I've seen them several times while on the road, and each time I made sure to kill as many as I could until they were either all dead or I was in danger of getting overwhelmed.

When the elves saw the state I was in they brought me to Lord Elrond who I fangirled over just a little bit. Thankfully that could have been passed as being honored to meet an elven lord. I told him about my travels across Middle-Earth, and ano trouble I came across. Orcs being one of them.

Lord Elrond was kind enough to give me a room and allow me to use the bathhouse, while Captain roamed with the other elven horses.

Once I was cleaned up the elves gave me a floor-length forest green dress that hugged my upper body before hanging loosely from my waist. I never enjoyed wearing dresses, I even wore some sort of leggings while in Lothlórien, but just this once I wouldn't mind.

Dinner with Lord Elrond had been…interesting. The dinner had included Elrond's three children. The twins Elrohir and Elladan, and his daughter Arwen. Seeing Arwen had been a very exciting moment, and she was much prettier in person then in the movie.

Apparently Elrohir and Elladan took my favoritism towards their sister as an insult. Of course I wasn't as excited to meet them because they weren't in any of the movies, and if they'd been in the books I wouldn't know since I never read them.

After that dinner I found myself constantly plagued by unexplained occurrences. I had my suspicions on what was going on, and who was behind it, but for the moment I could just wave them off with an amused smile.

It all changed when my hair turned pink after one of my baths. You do not mess with a girl and her hair, and those boys were about to find out why.

It only took about an hour until I found them on Rivendell's training grounds. They were circling each other for some one on one sword training. Lucky for me they were the only elves around.

Trying to sneak up on them in human form would never work. I learned that when I tried with Ardinor. I decided to take a more…direct approach.

The first thing Elladan and Elrohir noticed was the light click-clack of claws against the hard ground. They turned in the direction of the noise to see a dog happily trotting up to them with its tongue lolling out the side of its mouth. The dog sat down about two feet away from them with its tail wagging a mile a minute.

"Hey there…" Elladan tilted his head, "girl. Where'd you come from?" He looked to his brother, silently asking him the same question, but Elrohir just shrugged. "Well then we'll just have to help find your owner."

When Elladan reached forward to pet the mysterious dog, a sudden change overtook her. Her tail immediately stopped wagging, and she climbed onto her paws with her hackles raised. Her top lip was pulled back in a snarl as an inexplicable anger clouded her pupils.

Elladan ripped his hand away from the crazy animal, and both he and his brother took careful steps back. The dog lowered its front to the ground in a lunging position, and just when the brothers thought it couldn't get any worse, something unexplainable happened.

The dog form started shifting rather grotesquely. It's muscles expanding, it's muzzle teeth elongating to dangerous lengths. Elrohir foolishly dropped his sword in his shock, and when the dog-turned-bear pounced on them Elladan's was knocked from his grasp, leaving the twins defenseless.

The brown bear had a paw on the each elf's cheat. Her weight was enough to pin them both down, leaving them wits no way to escape.

With the bears ears pinned back against her head, and her growling growing louder by the second, Elladan and Elrohir had no doubts in their minds that they were going to die.

When the bear opened its mouth they were expecting her teeth to sink their heads, but instead she let loose an ear splotting roar that ther attended to damage the elves sensitive hearing.

The twins were once again struck dumb when the bear shifted into a very familiar woman was sitting on top of them with their shirt collars balled up in her fists.

"Don't you ever, EVER," my pink dyed hair fell into their faces, but they were too busy looking stunned to notice, "touch my hair again! And if you do– _oh if you do_ –I will _rip_ your balls off and _shove_ them so far down your throats you'll _choke_!" Shaking them a little more for emphasis I let go of their shirts, and they fell back against the dirty ground with a thud.

After the twins got over their shock they began coercing me into helping them pull off pranks. My ability to shift had only been known of in Lothlórien, but here Elladan and Elrohir happily exploited my ability. If they needed something in a small place I'd turn into a mouse, if they needed it high above I'd be a bird. There was always some odd job they made me do.

At first I would alway get irritated when they dragged me away from whatever I was doing at that moment to help them with their prank, but after a few weeks of this happening I found myself enjoying their company and seeking them out more and more. It got to a point where it was rare to see one without the others.

Eventually, of course, all good things must come to an end. My stay in Rivendell came to an abrupt end when I felt the same heavy need to move and explore. The same feeling I had in Lothlórien that had me running off on a journey that let me learn all of the hardships that came with traveling.

"You will visit, won't you?"

I had a new pack filled with all of the supplies I needed. It was heavy on my shoulders, but when I shifted it would be more evenly distributed on my back. "Of course I'll visit."

Elrohir and Elladan accompanied their sister and father to the front gate, where they would be seeing me and Captain off. When I first told them I needed to leave Rivendell they dramatically fell to the floor and grabbed onto my feet. They begged me not to go, and threatened to maim whoever it was that drove me off.

"Of course I'll visit," I said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You two are my closest friends, and I know I won't be able to stay away for more than a few years at a time."

Elrohir gasped dramatically, "Oh! Did you hear that Elladan! Were her closest friends!"

Elladan hastily nodded his head, "I heard her loud and clear brother mine!" He suddenly moaned in theatrical agony, "Our closest friend! The sister we always wanted! Gone!"

At this Arwen coughed pointedly, but they ignored her.

Elrohir grasped his brother by the shoulders, "She'll be gone for _years_ at a time!"

Elladan returned the hold, "We'll barely ever see her!"

"She'll be by herself!"

"Alone!"

"In danger!"

Elladan paled, "She'll be all alone, and in danger. With nobody there to help her." Each twin turned their wide eyed stares onto me, "Don't go!"

I rolled my eyes at them, but I still had a sad smile in my face. There was no doubt in my mind that I would miss the both of them terribly. "I have to go. And like I said, I'll be back in a few years."

Looking at Elrond I politely nodded my head, _"{Thank you for allowing me to stay here, and I hope I will be allowed back}"._

The fact I spoke Sindarin had a surprised, yet happy look to cross Elrond's features. He returned my nod, _"{Of course. It would be nice to learn what other secrets you hold}"._

I sheepishly scratched my cheek, _"{I've never really had a chance to speak Sindarin}"._ Every time an elf spoke with me they would use Westron, so naturally that's what I'd speak back.

 _"{Our friend just keeps getting better and better!}"_. The twins pulled me into a crushing hug.

Arwen helped me peel them away, and replaced their arms with hers, "It has been wonderful speaking with you, mellon nîn."

Returning the hug with equal warmth I took a deep breath through my nose, catching her natural scent of pine trees, "Likewise, mellon nîn."

Stepping back from the group of elves I considered as family, I gave an over dramatic curtsy, "My lords. My lady." Turning on my heel I lunged forward, and by the time my hands hit the ground they were no longer hands, but hooves. My four legs quickly carried me across the narrow bridge, and from the sound of hooves behind me I knew Captain had started following me.

When I reached a certain point on the mountain I looked back to make out two forms standing in the same place I had left them. In a final act of goodbye I reared back and let loose a loud neigh of delight. Whether the twins heard me or not I wouldn't know, as Capitain nipped me in a silent attempt to get me to hurry up.

That instance took place around four years ago, and I was beginning to think it was time to head back for Rivendell. Since then I'd travelled to get a glimpse of the Ettenmoors, and after that I journeyed passed Weathertop, and into the infamous town of Bree. Then it was off to the Shire where all of the hobbits were so short I worried I might end up stepping on one.

It's no wonder they gained the name of halflings.

The adult hobbits put on their fake smiles to keep up their respectable appearance, but it was obvious that once my back was turned they would look to their neighbor and share their horrible opinions.

Their children, on the other hand, were quite welcoming. I had only been in the Shire for that day yet when they heard an outsider was in town they jumped at the chance to hear my outlandish stories. Giving appropriate 'oo's and 'ah's, along with frightened gasps when told of orcs.

After my visit to the Shire I decided to head back east where I passed back over the Misty Mountains. Somehow missing Rivendell.

I was flying in my hawk form when we reached the forest of Mirkwood, and I definitely didn't want to go back there anytime soon. I started diving down to inform Captain of our change of course when I noticed something dark in the distance. I stopped my descent to hover in the air. Giving myself a chance to observe the black spot tucked innocently between the trees.

Curious as to what the structure could be I slowly continued forward while staying just above the tree tops. I didn't want to lose sight of Captain in the tainted forest, and if I ever did I just dove under the trees till I spotted him again and flew back up.

As we got closer and closer to the edifice I heard a distressed whinny from below me. I dove for the ground once again, and found Captain had made it out of the trees, and was frightfully shuffling in place. His ears were pinned back, and the white of his eyes were easily visible as he watched the tainted structure.

I flapped my wings as loud as I could so he would hear my approach, and I shifted back into the form of a human. My two feet landed on the ground in front of him with a muffled thump. _"{What's wrong, boy?}"_

Sindarin usually helped calm him down, but Captain continued his fear filled movements.

 _"{Don't worry Cap}"_. I reached forward to stroke his nose, but he backed away. I tried again, but instead of just backing away Captain spun around and galloped away with a whinny of distress.

 _"{Captain!}"_. I watched him until I could no longer see his retreating form before cautiously turning my gaze onto the foreboding construction that had scared him off. I could see why it would scare him–it was creepy, dark, and run down. But what I felt was what must have made him run.

There was a hair raising air about the place that made you want to run and hide. It was dark, it was oppressing, it made me want to curl up in a ball and rock back and forth.

But I ignored those feelings as best I could. I needed to know why this place looked so familiar to me. What made it so disturbing.

Unsheathing my sword for added protection I began my slow trek into the eroding structure. I was half afraid the bridge I had to cross would crumble away from beneath my feet, but it stayed intact and I was able to delve deeper into what felt like an actual pit of despair.

My sword was clutched in both of my hands as I took slow, measured steps passed eroding walls and the dead vines that held them together.

There was an ominous wind that blew my long hair in front of my face, temporarily blocking my view of whatever made a spine chilling scuttle from the direction the wind originated.

I whipped around quick enough to dislodge my hair, but not quick enough to stop whatever made the noise from attacking me.

I landed on the ground with a yelp and the air wasknocked out of my lungs when the strange creature landed on top of me. It was making odd growling and slurping noises right in my ear before it bit down onto my neck.

The bite wasn't that deep, but it was definitely painful. So much so that I let out a scream of pain, and placed both of my hands on the creatures face to pry its jaws away from my neck and forcefully shove it away from me.

I placed one hand against my bleeding wound and pointed my sword at the feral creature. When I finally caught a glimpse of what had attacked me I nearly dropped it in shock.

Standing before me was no creature, but a man. His hair was a long, dirty, ratted mess that hid the top half of his face while his matching beard his the rest. His clothes were thin, and hung off of shoulders. So thin I could see the bones through the material of his shirt.

"Who," I locked my lips, "Who are you?"

The strange man growled at me, and I could see my blood staining his teeth.

I cautiously lowered the tip of my sword to the ground, and held my other bloodied hand in a show of peace, "I will not hurt you so long as you don't hurt me," I paused, "again."

Neither of us moved again for an indefinite amount of time, until the man slowly stopped his growling and started scrutinizing me. His eyes still held that glint of madness, but there was a curiosity there too.

He suddenly seemed to stand up a bit straighter, and I realized that he was horribly short for a man. He only cam up to about mid-bicep on me, making him around 4' 5".

The fact that he had a long beard, and such rugged features I ruled out the possibility of him being a young boy (thankfully), but that didn't explain who, or what, he was.

"Sir?" His dark eyes snapped up to mine, and I felt chills roll down my spine, "Can you tell me your name?"

He didn't give me a response as he watched me silently.

"Can you tell me where we are?" Nothing. "Well, um," I was starting to feel a little creeped out with his unwavering stare, "if you'll excuse me I'm just going to…" my voice trailed off as I began backing away from him. I didn't take my eyes off of him, and it was a good thing I didn't because as soon as I took my second step back his eyes burned with his madness, and he lunged for me.

I jerked my sword up, and when the tip of it touched his neck he immediately stopped. "Don't come any closer," there was a confidence in my voice that I didn't feel.

The mad man snarled, and looked between me and the direction I was backing out in before viciously shaking his head. The movement made the tip of my sword cut several shallow marks into his neck.

He began making oddly pitched growling noises as he looked at me. I got the feeling he was trying to tell me something in some sort of weird animal way, but just because I could turn into animals disn't mean I could speak their language, "I am sorry, but I don't understand you. What–?"

My question was interrupted by another gust of wind. This time it made every hair stand on end, and I swore I could hear whispers in the air.

The man in front of me stiffened for the briefest moment before his eyes widened. Widened in something that scared me even more than the madness, or the hunger.

They widened in such unadulterated terror that I could feel my own widen with his.

He spun around to face the origin of the wind, and he let out the most human sound I've heard him utter since he tackled me. But the noise he made only served to make me more nervous.

It had been a shout, a plea of some sort in a strange language that was vaguely familiar to me, but now was not the time to puzzle out what language the man was speaking. Now was the time to turn tail and flee with everything I had.

I immediately shifted into the form of a bird, and took off into the skies, but before I could make it all the way into the air a gut wrenching scream of horror sounded from below me. Directly where the crazed mad man was standing.

Feeling an overwhelming guilt for leaving him behind, no matter the fact he's mad and bit me, I flew back down to the ground and hovered where there was enough space to shift into the form of a horse.

I looked over to see the man cowering against the floor in an attempt to hide from the dark entity that appeared out of nowhere. The dark mass was just that. There was nobody standing in the middle of the spiking darkness, just a floating ball of black.

It was steadily getting closer and closer to the mans cowering form, and with a terrified whinny I rushed forward and reared up between the two of them.

There were hundreds of whispers in the air, and I couldn't make head or tails of what any of them were saying, so I ignored them in favor of kneeling down in front of the mad man. I made sure to keep one eye on the black mass that was closing in on us as I pressed my side up against the man in an attempt to get him onto my back.

After a while of no response I let out a neigh of distress, and that was when I felt a hand tangle into my mane with a vice like grip. I paid no attention to the amount of pain the hold caused as I tried to gently stand up.

I got my back legs almost straightened by the time one of the mans legs holed over my back, and when I felt that I stood up a bit faster with a small jump to get the man better situated. Not caring if he was straight or not I bolted in the direction of where I originally came from.

Any thoughts I had on looking behind me were wiped away when I heard a spine tingling chuckle that pierced my very soul, and made me run across the crumbling narrow bridge with a speed I never knew possible.

* * *

 **AN: Im not too sure how well this chapter turned out, but I hope its as good as the others. Btw Amber is now about 27 years old.**


	8. TA 2812

_"{Sindarin}"_

* * *

I'll never know how long I ran for. It could have been minutes, hours, or maybe even days. But I do know that by the time I stopped I was far, far away from the creepy depths of Mirkwood. I hadn't stopped running when I made it out of the forest, and as a result it was now just a dark line several miles away.

The man on my back had kept a tight hold on my mane, but when he realized I wasn't going to move anymore he slowly slid to the ground. Once he was off of my back I shifted into my usual human form. Since I was so tired from all of the running I ended up laying sprawled out across the ground.

My moment of peaceful relief was interrupted by something thumping on the ground beside my head. I cracked open my left eye to see the mans face looming directly above mine, making his matted locks tickle my cheeks.

I jerked up, almost hitting our foreheads together, before rolling several feet away. When there was a comfortable distance between us I sat cross-legged with one hand in my lap, and the other on my sword.

The only sound uttered between us was our heavy breathing. We were left staring at each other, and when the silence began stretching long enough to become uncomfortable I decided to break it, "Who are you?"

He continued staring at me with no sign of understanding.

"I'm Amber." I awkwardly licked my lips and cleared my throat, "Can you understand me?"

That time I got a response, even if it was only a grunt.

"Okay! Okay, um, can I know your name?" He continued looking at me, but he started uttering some mumbled grunts. To try and give him a bit of incentive I tried another way. Pressing a hand to my chest I said my name again, then I gestured to him with an expectant look.

He gave another grunt, and I was ready to label it as a lost cause when he pressed his hand to his own chest, "Thhhhgrruhn."

The word was growled out, and combined with the roughness of his voice I couldn't make heads or tails of what he just said, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

With another grunt he placed both hands on his chest, "Thhr…Thhrraign."

I tried sounding it out, and he began doing the same thing. Whenever I got a letter wrong he would shake his head with a growl, and we would start over. Eventually I finally understood what he was saying, and I dreaded the moments we tried to have full conversations.

"So your name is Thráin?" I slowly nodded my head while blankly staring off into the distance. For the next few minutes I sat completely still while my mind whirled around in circles.

 _Thráin, son of Thror. Technically the King of Erebor, and father of Thorin. I should have realized it the moment I saw him. He's obviously a dwarf from his height, and there's no reason for anyone to have been in those wretched ruins. Of course he shouldn't have been there either, but Azog's a bitch._

Blinking out of my daze I focused on Thráin as if I would find something I had missed before. As it turns out there were a few things I hadn't noticed, like the beads caught in his beard or the fact he's wearing a ring on the missing half of his left pointer finger. The band was thick and covered in dirt with bits of gold shining through, and a heavy set black gem sitting on the top.

"Does this mean you remember your life before Dol Guldur?" It's been a long time since I've seen anything regarding the Hobbit movies, but I was pretty sure there was some clip involving Gandalf finding a feral Thráin in the ruins of Dol Guldur.

He tilted his head at me, and I tried asking again, "Do you remember how you got there?"

A snarl lit his face, and his eyes filled with the same madness that was there when he attacked me, "Urgs."

I furrowed my brows, "Urgs?"

He shook his head and grunted in irritation, "Ur…ks. Azg."

"Urks? Urks…urk…ork…orcs!" I clapped my hands when I finally figured out what he said. "Orcs took you there?" He was happily nodding his head with odd hand gestures that reminded me of sign language. "And azg, is that supposed to be Azog?" This time I got a crooked grin that revealed his chipped, yellow teeth.

That conversation led to the beginning of a rather wonderful relationship. We travelled everywhere together, after I insisted on finding Captain which was an adventure in and of itself.

Thráin wouldn't go anywhere near Mirkwood, and since I didn't want to go back anytime soon either I decided to take him to Lothlórien. It was time for a visit anyway.

When we rode up to the forest Thráin was sitting on my back while I was in the form of a horse, and Captain was trotting alongside me. Thankfully he seemed unbothered by Thráins presence.

It wasn't until we were greeted by the elves that problems started arising. Thráin wanted absolutely nothing to do with them, and was yelling what must have been obscenities in another language. Khuzdul is what I assumed it to be, but I had no way to be sure.

His lack of cooperation was halted when we were offered food and water, but afterwards he resumed his loud complaining that no doubt irritated the elves. I made my happy reunions with Lady Galadriel and Ardinor before having to leave the very next day.

I decided then and there that it would probably be better if I kept him away from elves, at least for a little while. The only problem was the fact that I was good friends with the elves of Rivendell as well.

"You know Thráin," I commented to the silent dwarf sitting in front of me, "when we pass over these mountains we'll be visiting Rivendell." Galadriel was kind enough to give us a beautiful white mare for our journey, and we were currently riding north along the Misty Mountains.

Thráin seemed to recognize the name, but it was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it showed that he could still remember things (hopefully everything), but a curse because as soon as I said Rivendell he began thrashing around in the saddle, just like when we entered Lothlórien.

The mare, Rochael, almost bucked us off from the sudden thrashing on her back, but when I managed to wrap my limbs around Thráins body to keep him still she settled down and continued on.

The journey to Rivendell was a long one. We stayed at a leisurely pace that was comfortable enough for Thráin. He didn't want to get to Rivendell any sooner than he needed to, but we got there eventually. This time however, when we were greeted by the elves, I was pulled into the arms of Elronds excited sons.

They were talking a mile a minute about everything under the sun, but a loud yell interrupted them. I was still wrapped in-between them when we turned to see Thráin racing towards us, arms raised and eyes feral.

The boys immediately let me go and stumbled back from the crazy dwarf, but I remained where I was with my arms open in a silent invitation for a hug. Naturally Thráin ducked under my arms to ignore the gesture, but he stopped to stand in front of me. He continued to hiss at the twins, and all I could do was look at him with a confused frown.

"It seems you've made a friend since you've been gone," Elrond slowly stepped forward but when Thráin turned his attention onto him he paused.

I bowed, "Lord Elrond." Looking between the snarling dwarf and the cowering twins I struggled to hold in a smile, _"{I found him in Dol Guldur}"._ I sent him a hopeful look, _"{He's had a rough time, and I hope the soothing atmosphere will help him heal}"._

Elrond took a good, long look at Thráins mangy form, _"{He may never heal}"._

 _"{Something is better than nothing. If he can be healed at least a little bit then I will be most grateful}"._ Thráin may have an easier time speaking, but that didn't mean I understood what he said. Most was in Khuzdul, some in crazed mumbles, and some in broken English.

 _"{I am sure there is some room for one more in the House of Healing}"._

 _"{Thank you,}"_ I bowed low, _"{Thank you, my lord}"._

Captain and Rochael were led to the fields where they could frolic with the other horses living in Rivendell while Thráin and I were brought to our rooms. Originally I was going to stay in the same room I had all those years ago, and Thráin was going to stay near the healing hall. Those plans changed when Thráin started kicking up a fuss as soon as I left his sight.

Figuring it would give the elves an easier time I decided to move to the room right beside Thráins. My close proximity was enough to keep him calm, and whenever he was being treated by the elves I made sure to be in the same room, whether I was human or in an animal form.

Any time that I wasn't with Thráin I could be found hanging around Elladan and Elrohir. They demanded to know everything that I've been through since I've been gone, and I readily told them of my time in the Shire, and the disturbing accounts that took place in Dol Guldur.

The twins were amazed that there could be someone out there that only came up to their stomach, and laughed when they heard how the adult hobbits acted. We all had a good laugh when we thought about what the hobbits reactions would be if Elladan and Elrohir were to go to the Shire.

The happy mood vanished when they heard about the darkness that appeared in Dol Guldur. They told me to tell Elrond as soon as possible, and I wholeheartedly agreed.

Once that seriousness had passed the twins wanted to know everything about dwarf companion. Apparently it's been a long time since they've last seen a dwarf, and the first one they see happens to be the lost King Under the Mountain.

I told them about how I found him, and I traced the scar now etched into the skin of my neck. Both boys examined the ragged bite mark with amazement while I tried to think of anything I could tell them about Thráin, but there really wasn't that much to tell.

That night when I was getting ready for bed I took a much needed hot bath and brushed my hair. When I was done I set the brush onto the counter and examined my appearance.

I still had the same grey eyes and red hair, but where it used to only reach my jaw it was now well passed my shoulders. The only piece of hair that hadn't grown at all was the braid Mahal had given me back when I was being sent into Middle-Earth. It was still the same length as when it was put in, and it's never come undone.

My height has also increased since I was fourteen years old. Instead of being 5' 4" I was around 5' 6".

There wasn't a single grey hair on my head, and I was grateful for that, but I was getting close to thirty years old and I looked like I did when I was around twenty five.

My eyes strayed down to the glass vial resting innocently against my chest. Eru had said it would give me the same life span as an elf. Maybe that meant I would stop aging after a certain amount of time. The thought was an intriguing one. Something I wouldn't know for sure for another couple of years.

* * *

 **AN: This one was really short, but that's okay! Only a couple more chapters and we can meet the Company!**


	9. Now 32 in 2817

**Khuzdul**

* * *

Thráin and I ended up staying in Rivendell for about five years. The first year was spent trying to calm Thráin down enough to let the elves come near him, then another few months of coaxing for them to start healing him. The rest of that year and then the year after was when Thráin was healed from his madness.

Elrond spent almost two full years using every healing method he knew to try and rid Thráin of his madness, and while it worked for the most part Thráin would still have days where he reverted back to the state of a grumbling crazy man. Those phases could last from a few hours to a few days. The only way to keep him semi-calm was to put me in the same room as him. For whatever reason he seemed to take comfort in my presence.

Whenever Thráin wasn't in his mad state he would walk around Rivendell to take in the calming sights. Most of the time I would accompany him, and after each walk he would warm up to me more and more. It got to a point where he started talking to me about his likes, his dislikes, Erebor, and on the rare day he would mention his family. As short as those instances were I could still here the pride he held for his children.

During these walks we would sometimes run into other elves who would exchange brief pleasantries with me before parting ways. Each time this happened I would notice Thráin tense up, but since he never said anything about it neither did I.

On one particular walk I wished five different elves a good morning before Thráin turned on me.

"Why do you speak their tongue," his low voice was demanding.

I raised a brow in silent question, but answered anyway, "They taught it to me."

He growled, and for a moment I feared he was reverting to his mad state right in front of me, "Why did they teach you?"

"Well," I knew he needed an answer because this was obviously bothering him, "I lived in Lothlórien for three years, and Lady Galadriel assigned me a teacher to tech me Sindarin. Why?" Why did he want to know?

"I consider you to be a very close friend of mine Amber," it took me about a year to get him to drop the 'Lady', "and hearing you speak the language of the elves…bothers me."

I smiled at his honesty, "While I am sorry it bothers you I am not sorry I know it. Speaking in the language of another's race makes them a little more friendly, don't you think?" Whenever I talked to an elf in Sindarin instead of Westron they seemed a lot happier, and smiled more.

Thráin gave a gruff grunt, and started quickly walking away, "Come." Not sure what was going on I decided it would be wiser to follow him.

He ended up bringing me to the library, and he forced me to sit at a table tucked away in the back corner hidden behind several bookshelves. I hadn't even known this table existed.

Thráin came back carrying a few pieces of parchment, ink, and two quills. He handed me one of the quills while dipping his own in the ink, and he set the parchment down on the middle of the table. He started writing an unfamiliar word, and slid it over to me. He tapped the symbol with the tip of his quill, "This is I."

I gaped down at the paper, "Are you…teaching me Khuzdul?" He grunted. "But–But I though dwarves kept the language to themselves! You can't just teach it to me!"

"Oh?" Thráin raised a cool brow, "And why not?"

"Well because…wouldn't other dwarves get mad that I know?"

"Not if you tell them I was the one that taught you," he pointed out.

"I suppose not, but who would believe me?"

Thráin pondered this before getting up from his chair and moving to the one right beside me. He took a few strands of my hair, and I tried asking him what he was doing, but he shushed me. We sat silently for a few minutes while Thráin busied himself by messing with my hair.

When he was done he brought it forward so I could see part of his work. There was a blue bead clasped at the end that I remembered used to be in one of Thráins own braids. "Any dwarf who sees this braid will know you are a close friend to the royal line of Durin."

Tears gathered in my eyes as I reverently dragged my fingers down the smooth braid. When it fell back against my neck I turned and gave Thráin a tight hug with a whispered, "Thank you."

He returned the hug with equal feeling, and after a couple pats to let me know the hug was over he turned back to my Khuzdul lesson.

The last two years in Rivendell were spent learning new words and phrases in Khuzdul, watching Thráin slowly start liking the Rivendell elves (though he'll never admit it), and playing pranks with Elladan and Elrohir.

Unlike Sindarin it was much harder for me to learn Khuzdul. Nobody besides Thráin spoke the language, and he didn't want me speaking it in front of elves until I was comfortable conversing in the language. By the end of our fifth year I was able to speak enough Khuzdul to get my point across, but I struggled to hold a conversation.

 **"Why do you want to leave?"** My words were halting, but eventually I got my question out.

Thráin nodded approvingly, and I knew the words I'd used were spoken correctly, **"I cannot stay in this elf infested city any longer."**

He spoke slowly do that I could understand what he was saying, but there were still some things I didn't know. I was thankfully able to get his point. **"I thought you liked Elrond?"**

 **"Yes, Lord Elrond is one of the better elves, but being here, surrounded by all of this…nature. It is suffocating."**

 _Says the dwarf who likes living inside holes dug in the ground,_ **"I don't mind leaving, but can we come back one day?"**

He nodded, **"Of course. I know how much these elves mean to you."**

During one of our more heartfelt talks I told Thráin that I had been a part of the Azanulbizar, and I spent my time healing in Lothlórien. The elven Forest became my second home, and I felt the same way about Rivendell. When he found out I disliked Thranduil and his kingdom he gave a hearty laugh, apparently happy that Thraduil was the least liked elf.

When we announced that we were leaving during dinner with Elrond and his family the twins once again dramatically begged me to stay. Naturally I refused their wishes while Thráin just watched in with amusement. Apparently the troublesome duo reminded him of his own two sons, Thorin and Frerin.

Thráin ended up falling into a week of madness, preventing us from leaving right away, but once it passed he demanded we leave the following morning with no recollection of what happened to him. It wasn't surprising since he usually never remembers his time while going mad.

We were back on the road as soon as possible with Captain once again accompanying us wherever he went. The stubborn horse wouldn't let either of us ride him, so we were stuck riding Rochael together.

While Thráin was happy traveling with me he still wanted to be amongst his kin, which I completely understood. After spending so much time with one race you tend to yearn for the company of your own kind.

Naturally Thráin wanted to be reunited with his family after learning that his sons survived the Azanulbizar. I told him they would either be in one of the dwarves settlements, or traveling across Middle-Earth in search of work. If I remembered correctly it was said that Thorin travelled around cities as a blacksmith.

It was decided that we would check Ered Luin for his family first, and after weeks of traveling we finally reached the mountains, only for Thráin to fall into another bout of madness. I waited for him to snap out of it for a good five hours before dwarves were seen rising toward us in the distance.

Not wanting them to see their lost king in such a state I hoisted the both of us on top of Rochael and galloped as far away from the mountain as possible. The dwarves followed us for a few miles before they fell back to Ered Luin.

When Thráin woke from his madness a few days later he grew angry when he found out I had taken him away from what might have been his future home. Nothing I said could calm him down, and he eventually spiraled back into his madness. He kicked and screamed at me, and I was forced to draw my sword to defend myself.

Thráin paused at the sound of my sword being drawn, and I foolishly thought he would calm down enough to get back on the horse, but instead he turned around and bolted.

I cried out in shock and tried yelling for him to stop, but he either didn't hear me or ignore me. I urged Rochael to run as fast as she possibly could, but Thráin was somehow able to stay ahead of us.

This chase lasted a day before Thráin finally collapsed. I rode up beside him to see he had curled up on the ground and was sobbing. The sight sent a bolt of worry through my heart, and I slid out of the saddle to pull the fallen king into my arms.

We spent hours holding each other until he finally calmed down enough to tell me how sorry he was, and that I was right to have taken him away from Ered Luin. I tried denying his claims but he shushed me. Apparently he came to the realization that because he could fall into madness at any moment he was unfit to reclaim a seat in the throne. He saw himself as a danger to his people, and if I was the only one that could help him through those times then he needed to stay close to me.

Hearing him admit such horrible thoughts made me want to cry, but nothing I said could change his mind. I playfully cursed the stubbornness of dwarves as we climbed back into Rochael's saddle.

After that we were always careful to steer clear of any dwarven settlements. He was even weary of going into a city of men, but I dragged him into a small village so he would realize that his madness wouldn't be triggered by anything. It was enough for him to at least spend some time around other people, but not for very long.

Most of our time was spent traveling through the wilds, which was where all of our interesting adventures took place. We ran into dozens of orcs, a mountain troll or two, and the biggest elephant I've ever seen in my entire life. Though in Middle-Earth their known as oliphaunts, or mûmak.

To prevent getting trampled on by the gigantic mammals we climbed up the nearest mountain until we were safety out of reach of their trunks. It was up there that we found the nesting grounds of Manwë's eagles. The situation was growing weirder by the minute, and I got a good look of the giant birds before morphing into one.

The first time changing into a new animal was always the most painful, but I needed to get the both of us down safely. Flying as a giant eagle was our best bet.

My feathers were a reddish-orange just like my fur as a horse or a dog. It was definitely different from the darker brown feathers of Manwë's eagles. So different that the Eagles seemed intrigued by the color, and to get away I had to quickly pick Thráin up in my claws and free fall from the mountain side before I was able to work out my new wings.

That experience was when I decided it would be better for us to travel to a more peaceful place, and what's more peaceful than the rolling hills of the Shire?

We rode alongside Captain while on the back of Rochael, but when we were only halfway to the Shire Captain refused to get up. I searched him for any signs of a wound, but when I couldn't find one I looked at Thráin in confusion. He was looking at Captain with soft, sad eyes.

"What's wrong with him Thráin?"

He set a calming hand on the horses neck, "Captain is an old horse my dear. He is only going through what everyone eventually has to."

During the middle of the night while we were all asleep Captain, my companion for over sixty years, succumbed to the demon that was old age. We spent another day mourning over his body, but we eventually had to continue on for the Shire. Rochael showed no signs of leaving Captains side, and with no other choice we strapped the saddle onto the back of my horse form and continued that way.

Our riding time was shortened as I had to get used to the sudden weight attached to my back, but I was eventually able to carry both Thráin and the saddle over longer distances.

Before entering the Shire I warned Thráin about the hobbits tendency to act nice, but talk about you behind your back. He took the information in stride, and soon enough we were riding into the Shire with me in my horse form and Thráin riding in the saddle. I would be a pony, but the saddle was made to fit a horse.

Just like I said the adult hobbits put up a kind façade, but once our backs were turned they (loudly) whispered condescending insults. I internally applauded Thráin on his restrain because I could feel him tense with every insult thrown.

And just like the last time I travelled through the Shire by myself the fauntlings crowded around the two of us with excited shouts. The sight of children, even hobbit children, had Thráins rough exterior melting away. He thoroughly enjoyed his time running around the green Shire hills, and I contented myself with laying down in the grass to let the little kiddies put braids in my mane and tail.

As it turns out one of those fauntlings wasn't a fauntlings at all, but was actually a certain Belladonna Took. A very familiar hobbit lass who begged Thráin to let her travel with him, and she he looked to me for my opinion I just nodded my head. Of course this made Belladonna hug my head against her chest and give Thráin puppy eyes, "See? Even your horse wants me to come."

Thráin and I shared an amused look, and once she got permission from her parents we set off for Rivendell. I figured that would be the best first place for an adventurous hobbit to go, and when we were done there we could travel back to the Shire.

Belladonna had quite the surprise when I changed from a horse into a human. She thought it was the most amazing thing ever, and asked constant questions.

Luckily for Thráin he never fell into madness while in the presence of Belladonna, but he did for a short time while in Rivendell. Thankfully while we were there he could hide out in his room while I covered for him.

Elladan and Elrohir thought Belladonna was the cutest creature in existence and showered her with affection. They weren't the only ones to react that way, and we had to practically drag the young hobbit out of the city.

Belladonna became some sort of hero in the eyes of the Shire fauntlings, and I feared how the older hobbits would view her. I confessed these fears to Thráin, and he calmly reassured me that everything would be just fine, and we could always check on her in the future.

I forced myself to calm down about the topic because I knew she would end up marrying Bungo Baggins and have little Bilbo.

It was when we were leisurely making our way south when everything went wrong.

The fire was slowly dying out and I knew I needed to go and collect more firewood, but I didn't want to leave Thráin alone. He had gone into another state that day, and I was hesitant to wake him up.

My hesitance was soon burned away when a group of orcs came crashing out of the surrounding trees. Their screeches and my screaming was enough to jolt Thráin awake, and from what I could tell he was conscious enough to pick up his own weapons and fight back.

At first it seemed like we were going to win, but four out of the seven left suddenly lunged for me. They wrestled me to the ground, and when I was restrained two of them helped hold down Thráin.

We looked each other in the eye and did our best to reassure the other, but our eye contact was broken when another creature walked into the clearing.

Sitting astride a white warg was an equally white orc. His left arm was missing from the elbow down, and in its place was a metal claw stabbed through the joint. When he jumped down from the warg it was easy to see that he reached about seven feet in height.

My voice was stuck in my throat, but Thráin was quick to give a feral growl. "Azog," the name was spat with such venom I was surprised the pale orc didn't fall where he stood.

Azog barred his teeth in a parody of a smile, "Thráin, son of Thror. Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

Thráin spat on the ground, **"Rot in hell beardless scum!"**

Even though Azog couldn't understand what Thráin said he still laughed mockingly. The pale orc turned his attention onto me, and spotted the braid adorning the right side of my head. "So the dwarf filth has found a partner."

I sneered at the pale orc, "Careful Princess, your jealousy is showing."

Azog snarled at me, and it only took him four quick strides before he was holding a sword to my neck. To my satisfaction his hand was covered in teeth marks from when I bit him at the Azanulbizar. "Watch your tongue dwarf whore," he trailed the tip of his sword from the edge of my left eyebrow down to the right side of my jaw. It was the same place as the scar I gained from the Azanulbizar. It wasn't the prettiest thing to have on ones face, but I wore it with pride.

"Get away from her you shit-faced bastard!" Thráin was struggling against the orcs holding him down, but it was no use. All he managed to accomplish was gain Azog's attention. Something nobody wants.

"You put on a brave front dwarf, but I can smell your fear. It rolls off of you in waves," he suddenly licked his pale lips, "I can practically taste it." The orcs holding us down all snickered to themselves.

"Prepare yourself, son of Thror. I've hunted you for years, and now that I've caught you I won't let you get away so easily." The orcs restraining Thráin laid him down onto his back, and Azog kneeled above him. "I cut off your fathers head, and now," Azog began sinking his sword into Thráins chest, making him yell profanities between screams of pain, "I will cut out your heart." He began dragging his rusty sword in the shape of a circle. "You should know that your sons and nephews will meet the same fate."

Tears were falling in rivers down my face, and I released such an anguished scream that Azog paused in his torturous murder to look over at me. He was met with the sight of the small woman throwing off his men as if they were nothing.

The sight of me running towards him must not have been that terrifying since he just smiled at me, but that look changed when I went from a charging human to a charging polar bear.

His look of surprise would have been comical had I not been drowning in grief.

My large form slammed into Azog, and it sent him flying off of Thráins body. His sword was left sticking out of Thráins chest.

I would have mauled the pale orc right then and there had his warg not rammed into me. We were sent rolling across the ground. Feral growls echoed through the clearing as we circled each other. We snapped our jaws, snarled, and ignored the lines of saliva dripping from our lips.

The warg moved first. He clamped his jaws on the loose skin around my neck, and I pushed myself against him to bring us into a standing position. As a bear this gave me an advantage. I had better balance on my back legs, and I could easily bring up my front paws and scratch them down the wargs chest and stomach.

When he howled in pain I was able to wrench my head away, and clamp my own jaws around his neck. I had a better angle then he did, and sunk my teeth into his jugular.

I pushed him backwards, and when his back hit the ground my weight went into the paw that was pressed against his chest. I could feel his bones give way beneath my paw, and with one last gurgled whine the white warg died beneath me.

I unclamped my jaws, and looked up to see Azog wrench his sword out of Thráins body. He was glaring at me with such hatred I half expected to drop six feet under. But as it were I just gave him the bear equivalent of a grin.

Azog yelled something in Black Speech, and the other orcs scattered back into the trees. Azog stayed behind to give his dead mount one last lingering look before glares get at me hatefully, "I will take great pleasure in cutting off your head, dwarf whore."

The pale orc disappeared into the trees like the rest of his kin, and I stood there panting for a few moments before my motor skills kicked into gear and I shifted into my usual form. I ran towards Thráins fallen form and dropped to my knees.

I placed shaky hands on top of his chest. The area where Azog carved his sword was bleeding profusely. He had cut deep enough, and far enough, that I wouldn't be surprised if a few main veins attached to his heart had been severed.

"You're gonna be okay," I choked on my tears and failed to swallow my sobs, "You'll be fine."

A soft, shuddering breath escaped Thráins parted lips, **"You know I hate it when you lie to me my dear."**

I coughed out a laugh and sucked in an uneasy breath, **"Dont leave me Thráin, please. I don't want to be alone."**

 **"How many times…"** Thráin coughed up blood but stubbornly continued talking, **"…have I told you to call me father?"**

I remembered back to the first time he asked me to call him father. We'd grown so close during our travels I'd begun to see him as a father figure, and when he found out he grew so overjoyed he re-braided my hair to make it so that it was clear to any dwarf who saw that I was an official member of the Durin royal family.

 **"Many times father,"** I sniffed, **"Many times."**

Thráin started nodding, but he suddenly began choking on an obscene amount of blood. He tried saying something, but it was lost. He seemed to realize I couldn't understand what he was trying to say so he brought up his pale, shaking hands, and slipped off his ring.

He took my hand in his and pressed it against the beads in his beard. I still wasn't understanding what he was trying to tell me, so he pressed the ring into my palm, and wrapped my fingers around the beads.

 **"You…want me to take your beads?"**

Thráin closed his eyes in peace. Apparently that was exactly what he was trying to tell me.

 **"I can't take them they're yours!"** I tried pleading with him to keep the beads. They were his, they told stories of their own, but he would have none of it.

 **"…dying…wish…"** He opened and closed his mouth several more times in an attempt to speak, and I leaned forward to catch the last four words he would ever say.

My hand gripped the front of his tunic until my knuckles turned white. I shook with gut wrenching sobs and pulled Thráin into my lap while tilting my head to the sky and screaming for Aulë's forgiveness while cursing Eru.

I buried my face into Thráins scratchy hair and slowly rocked back and forth. Begging for him to wake up and pleading for this to be a dream.

Unfortunately this nightmare would never end as I looked up to see the suns rays peaking over the treetops. I released another shuddering breath before shifting Thráin onto my back with his arms over my shoulders. In this position I was able to change into the form of a great eagle, and he would be safely positioned on my back.

I extended my wings in preparation to take off, but a fluff of white caught the corner of my eye. The white warg, now covered in its black blood, was staring at me with dead eyes. I slowly stalked forward on my giant claws, and wrapped my talons around its limp body.

With a bit of a struggle I was slowly able to lift myself into the air, along with my heavy cargo. I aimed north, the opposite direction Thráin and I had been traveling from the previous afternoon, and slowly made my way towards Rivendell.

The only thing allowing me to carry on, with such a broken heart and shattered spirit, were the four words _'I love you, daughter'_ playing over and over in my head.

* * *

 **AN: I just killed Thráin, and let me tell you I almost cried a little bit when I started writing their conversation together. But I'm good, for now :'(**

 **P.S. If you didn't figure it out then the four words 'I love you, daughter' were the last four words Thráin said.**


	10. TA 2817–2871

**Khuzdul**

 _Thoughts_

* * *

The news of Thráins death was met with many tears. The elves of Rivendell had quite enjoyed the dwarfs rude behavior, and in honor of his memory they held a memorial service. Every elf in Rivendell attended the service, and once everyone paid their respects Thráin was sealed inside of a grave that had been carved out of the stone of Rivendell, just for him.

Thráins death hit me the hardest. For weeks I spent my time in Rivendell as a silent ghost, drifting through the halls and looking through everybody as if they weren't there. I would sometimes sit outside of Thráins grave with his ring hanging off of my star necklace, and his beads woven into my hair.

I hadn't been sure how I would put the braids in, but my hair had eventually reached a length where I just put it up into one long braid and wound it around my neck so it could drape over my shoulders. The few beads I had taken off of Thráin were placed in a random order. While Thráin may have taught me how to speak in Khuzdul he never taught me any other dwarvish customs. Although from the times he'd heatedly fought me over cutting my hair I could guess how important it was in their culture.

Eventually Elladan and Elrohir broke me from my depressed funk, but it took a lot more than a few pranks to get a laugh out of me anymore. After a while I began believing I was making everybody around me feel depressed, so I packed up my things and left Rivendell in the middle of the night.

The days I spent traveling alone felt much longer than I remembered them to be. I had nobody to talk to, nobody to sit in comfortable silences with. Not even anyone to race against.

Because I had nobody to talk to I rarely stayed in my human form, usually deciding to change between a horse, a wold, a great eagle, or sometimes even a polar bear, but the latter was mostly during the winter months.

That was the form I was currently traveling in. The howling winds were unforgiving on my eyes, and the biting cold couldn't be fought off with a simple leather cloak lined with white warg fur. Snow was falling from the sky in thick sheets, and I needed to get out of it as fast as I could, but the closest area of civilization was the Shire, and that was some leagues behind me.

I was beginning to think of just burying myself in the snow and hope for the best when I saw a dark hole a little ways ahead of me. The sight caused a wave of caution to roll through me, but nonetheless I continued forward to check out what the odd sight was.

As luck would have it the dark hole ended up being the opening to a cave. It wasn't the biggest cave I'd ever been in, but it was enough to protect me from the unforgiving cold.

I was just getting ready to fall asleep when a near silent shuffle sounded from deeper in the cave. My eyes snapped open, and I lifted my head from my paws to scan dark surroundings. Upon first glance there was nothing to see, but when my eyes adjusted I could make out a small blob that was darker than its surroundings.

Standing up from the ground I brought myself to my full height and stalked to the back of the cave. A deep growl fell from my lips, and whatever was hiding in the shadows of the cave let out a fearful whimper.

The sound made my growls get caught in my throat. Whatever it was that whimpered certainly wasn't a bear. In reality it didn't sound animal like at all. Add in the fact that something else started making shushing noises to the one whimpering I knew I needed to check out what was going on.

My growling ceased, but I still continued lumbering forward. The whimpers grew louder with every step I took, and soon I saw the black blob divide into two. The second blob was bigger than the first, and it was speeding towards me.

Going on the defensive I roared at the oncoming (possible) threat. It immediately fell to the ground with a fearful cry, and I placed my front paws on either side of the stranger. The lack of light made it hard to see what it was I was standing over, but I could vaguely make out the golden locks of human hair, and a very human body. The only real problem was the fact that this child could be no more than seven years old.

"Fee!" Another black blur attached itself to my head, "Run Fee!"

"Kee no!" The blonde haired boy wrapped his arms around who I assumed to be either his brother or friend, and pulled him off of my face.

I shook my head and snorted a couple of times, and when I felt comfortable I looked back up at the two boys as best as I could in the darkness of the cave.

The blonde one that I had pinned down was standing protectively in front of the smaller boy. From the looks of him he would be around seven while the other was maybe four. Seeing such young children hiding in this cave during a raging snowstorm made worry claw at my insides. It didn't help that they were looking at me with fear.

I slowly crouched down onto my stomach, and pressed my head against the ground. The eldest was looking at me with fear now tinged with confusion. I took that as a good sign, and slowly started inching my way forward across the ground.

The blonde one tensed up, and his little brother clutched onto his shirt sleeve. I paused long enough for them to slowly relax before moving forward again.

"Wa's it doing, Fee?"

The blonde one shook his head at his little brothers question, "I don't know Kee." "Kee" slowly let go of his brothers sleeve, and held his hand out towards me.

"Kee stop!" He grabbed his brothers hand, and forced it back to his side. He pointed a finger at me, "It could be dangerous!"

His stern expression froze when a weird, smooth object smothered wet stuff onto his outstretched arm. Both boys slowly turned their heads to see me obsessively licking his hand.

With a cry of disgusted shock he pulled his hand away from my enthusiastic tongue, and I unapologetically allowed it to hang out of my mouth similar to what dogs do. The blonde one looked at me like I was an alien, but the younger one started looking excited.

I brought myself out of my crouched positing, and settled back onto my haunches. This allowed the smaller boy to rush at my leg and cling to it.

"Kee what are you doing?!" The blonde one made a move to pull his brother away from me, but I simply raised my arm off of the ground, bringing the boy into the air. This sent the dark haired youth into a fit of giggles.

"Look! Look Fee, I's flying!" He started kicking his legs his legs about, and I gently set him back down before he ended up slipping off and hurting himself.

"Kee, don't do that! What if he hurt you?" A low growl rumbled from my throat, and the boys looked at me fearfully, making me stop immediately.

"Why'd he–?" Kee's question was cut short when I gave another short growl.

The blonde one gave a thoughtful frown, "Maybe he–," another growl. "He could–," more growling. "I don't think it's a he at all."

Kee looked up at his brother, "Wa?"

"I think he's a she." I puffed a happy breath and nodded my head up and down.

My reaction made Kee wildly wave his finger at me, "Fee she nodded! Did you see? Did you see?!"

"Yes Kíli I saw," the elder boy was finally growing exasperated with his brothers actions.

The air in my lungs stilled at the name. This entire time they'd been calling each other by nicknames, but hearing the dark haired one being called Kíli by the blonde who I assumed was his older brother made me look at the two of them with a critical eye.

The only image I had to compare them to was the vague memory of when I watched the hobbit movie. Fíli and Kíli, nephews of Thorin Oakenshield, were brothers who shared an unbreakable bond. Two brothers who should currently be living inside of the Blue Mountains, but are now (apparently) standing in front of me.

Compared to my blurry memory Kíli looked fairly similar to how he would in the movie. No doubt he would grow into his looks by the time the Company is formed. And Fíli has the same blonde hair, and instead of a badass mustache he had a bit of stubble growing in on his chin. I wondered how I could have missed such a glaring feature on a small child's face.

Kíli tugged excitedly on his brothers arm, "Fee, Fee, it's the white bear!"

Fíli nodded understandingly, "Yes, Kee, I see the white bear."

"No," Kíli stomped his foot with a pout, "She's the bear from Unca Torins story!"

He looked away from his younger brother, and gave me a scrutinizing look. Squinted eyes and all. "But that happened years ago, Kee. She wouldn't be alive anymore."

"Unca Torin was there and he's still alive," Kíli oh so wisely pointed out.

"But animals don't live as long as dwarves."

"Den let's ask her!" Kíli shuffled up to me, and I lowered my head to look at him at eye level. "Are you Unca Torins bear?"

I snorted in amusement, but didn't nod. I may have been there all those years ago, but I certainly wasn't Thorins bear.

"Don't ask her like that Kee!" Fíli nudged his brother to the side, and I was able to lift my head a little bit since he was about a foot taller than his brother. "We're you at the Azanulbizar with our Uncle Thorin?"

The fact he was able to say Azanulbizar without stumbling impressed me. It took me a couple tries myself before I could get it all out at once. To answer the young dwarfs question I nodded my head in agreement, letting them know that I was, in fact, the same bear that helped their uncle Thorin.

Kíli gasped in excitement, "You saved Unca Torin's life! And Unca Frerin!"

I blinked at them second name, and a happy rumble echoed from my chest. By the sounds of it Frerin had survived his injuries and was close with his nephews. The good news was a welcome ray of sunshine in my otherwise dreary life.

"Does that mean she can help us Fee?" The question wasn't directed at me, but it definitely caught my attention.

Fíli was looking at me with calculated worry while Kíli's eyes were filled with hope, "I don't know Kíli."

Kíli huffed, and turned to me, "Can you take us home?"

I gave him a long look before moving my shoulders in the best form of a shrug I could do as a bear.

Kíli seemed to deflate at my unsure answer, but Fíli held some hope, "We live in the Blue Mountains. Do you know where those are?" I nodded because, even thought I've never been there before, I knew where they were geographically. "Can you take us there?"

That was a different question altogether. If it wasn't winter than I would just fly them back to the mountains, but because of how bad it was snowing it would be too dangerous. If I was correct then the Blue Mountains were actually rather far away from here. How these two got here I had no idea.

Seeing as how it was the middle of winter it was bitingly cold outside, and I could already see there small forms shaking from the cold of the cave. Having them ride on my back would most likely cause them to freeze to death before we even got to the mountain.

I shook my head because no, there wasn't any way for me to get them back to the mountain alive.

Fíli ducked his head, and his curtain of blonde locks hid his face from my view. Kíli's lips were openly trembling and his eyes were gaining a glossy hue.

I leaned forward and gave his cheek a small lick before turning around and walking towards the mouth of the cave. I heard an anguished cry from behind me, "Where are you going?" I looked back to see Kíli struggling to get out of his brothers arms.

I growled back at them as warning to stay put, and I hoped they got the message.

Going back out into the cold snow was the last thing I wanted to do, but I needed to think of a way to travel through these conditions while keeping those two little dwarves warm. Thankfully dwarves were more resistant than normal human children, but they weren't invincible.

When I was a good distance from the cave I shifted into my human form. I immediately started shivering from the onslaught of cold against my fur-less skin, but I determinedly took off my leather cloak and folded it so the white fur was protected from the snow. Opening my mouth as wide as it would go I bit down on the cloak before shifting back into a polar bear.

I walked back into the cave, and found Fíli holding his crying brother. The sight made me utter a questioning whine. When the two heard the foreign noise their heads jerked up, and when they saw I had returned Kíli burst out of his brothers arms and ran at me, "You come back!"

Fíli made no move to stop his brother so I ended up getting a chest full of little dwarf. The dwarf attached to my chest prevented me from moving further into the cave, but thankfully Fíli saved me the trouble by coming to me, "We thought you left."

His voice had a note of insecurity, and I gently knocked my head against his. The sudden proximity let Fíli see the unfamiliar object inside of my mouth, "What's that?"

I pressed the leather against his chest, and when he had it in his hands I gently opened my jaws. He let the material open up to reveal the white warg fur. Kíli gasped, "Oh," he ran his hand over the fur, "it's warm!" The two of them huddled inside of my cloak. Apparently my body heat was stuck to it.

Laying back down onto my stomach I tapped my nose against the cloak to get their attention. _Get on my back little ones_ , I gestured my head to my back.

Even though they couldn't hear my thoughts they could still understand what I was trying to convey.

Fíli pulled his brother up to my side, and I felt him use my leg to push himself onto my back. Even then I could feel Kíli struggling to get a good position on my back. Thankfully Fíli had a much easier time getting up onto my back, and he could help his brother sit normally.

"Are we going home now Fee?"

I felt a twinge of guilt, and gave them a sad whine. Whatever Fíli had been about to say had changed when he heard that, "I don't think so Kee…"

Kíli cried out in confusion, "But I thought she was takin us home?"

"Not yet Kee," Fíli whispered to his brother as he tightened the cloak around their shoulders, "not yet."

Since the mountain was so far away I wouldn't be able to make it there before we all either froze or starved to death. So instead of risking all of our lives I decided to go to the Shire. The journey there took two finger numbing days, but eventually I saw the dim lights coming from hobbit holes in the hills.

I trudged up to the top of the highest hill, and scratched at the frosted door. It opened to reveal Belladonna Baggins née Took. Apparently she'd married Bungo in the years since I last saw her.

She almost shut the door on me, but when I removed the cloak from the children on my back she ushered us inside and placed us near the fire. The blue tinge to Fíli and Kíli's lips slowly faded as the fire warmed their skin, and the beginning signs of frostbite melted away.

Belladonna doted on the two boys by wrapping them up in fuzzy blankets and drying off my wet flank with a towel before laying them against me.

When they woke up Belladonna was more than happy to give them food and drinks, but when they went back to bed I could hear her arguing with Bungo. He didn't want such a dangerous creature living in their home, and apparently taking care of two dwarf children was more trouble than they were worth.

Of course as the saying goes, happy wife happy life.

Fíli, Kíli, and I stayed in the Baggins household until the beginning of spring. By then all signs of snowstorms had passed by, and we could safely travel over Middle-Earth without the danger of starving or freezing to death.

Belladonna sent us off with packs filled with food and pouches of water. Bungo even gave us a wave farewell because he just couldn't resist the adorableness that was Kíli Durin.

There was still a good amount of snow on the ground when we left the Shire, but with the spring sun warming up the air it slowly melted into slush.

Journeying with two young and impatient dwarves was by no means an easy feat. They may have been twelve and seven years old, but in dwarvish that's only about six and maybe four. It's not easy keeping those two by my side, but I was able to manage it.

By the time the Blue Mountains were in sight the ground was just about dry, and the two dwarflings on my back were squirming with excitement.

We were getting closer and closer to the mountain when I got an mischievous idea. I stopped walking to look at the impatient dwarves riding on my back. They had my leather cloak draped over their bodies to keep out the chilly spring air, but the wet fur was on the outside instead of the inside.

 _Perfect_. I stretched my neck to uncomfortable lengths to grab the corner of the cloak, and gently move it so it covered their bodies. Kíli whined about not being able to see the mountain, but when he tried to peek out from beneath it I growled.

When I finally made it up to the front gate of the mountain I was greeted by a very stern looking dwarf. When he demanded to know what I was doing there I felt the boys stiffen. There really wasn't any way for me to answer so I just sniffled his hand, and prayed to God he didn't cut my head off with his rather intimidating ax.

 **"Isn't this the bear that fought in the Azanulbizar?"** They looked at me strangely, **"The stories never said anything about her being so…disfigured."**

I knew the disfigurement they were talking about was Fíli and Kíli who were actually blending in underneath my cloak. The white warg fur allowed the cloak to be barely detectable.

Never more thankful for Thráins lessons in Khuzdul I nodded at the stern dwarfs companion. The action shocked them, for they hadn't expected to receive an answer.

 **"I heard she was intelligent, but I believed them to be only rumors…Come!"** The stern dwarf started walking towards the slowly opening gate, **"You would be a most welcome visitor for the Durin family. They've had a hard winter."**

Hearing those words made me look back at the two lumps squirming on my back. They had enthusiastically shared their story with Belladonna during our stay at Bag End. Apparently they had decided to skip their studies and go play outside, which was forbidden. So naturally they went out without telling anybody, and wandered too far from the mountain. When they decided it was time to head back they got caught in that snow storm and wandered for hours before finding the small cave where I'd found them.

That had been sometime in the middle of the winter, and now it was well on its way to mid-spring. They've been separated from their family for a couple months now. No doubt everybody thinks their dead.

I internally snickered, anticipating the moment when everybody realized they were actually alive. Hiding them was a way for me to build tension. Not to mention if everybody in the mountain saw the princes we would be swarmed. That wasn't something I wanted.

It took us quite a while before we finally reached a set of regal doors. Our journey there caught the attention of many dwarves, and word spread like wildfire that the white bear from the Azanulbizar was here in the Blue Mountains.

When we stopped in front of the doors my dwarf escort loudly knocked three times before pausing. There was a deep 'enter' that came from someone inside of the room, and the dwarf pushed open the doors wide enough for me to fit through.

"Your majesties," the dwarf bowed low, and I looked over to see two dwarves near the fireplace, "we've received a visitor that I believed would like to see you."

"You believed they wanted to see us?" The familiar baritone voice came from the dwarf standing next to the fireplace, "Did you not ask…" Whatever Thorin was going to say died on his lips as he turned around to see just who his visitor was. "Fròthi," the name was nothing but a whisper, and I internally cheered when I realized the name they gave me was Khuzdul for guardian.

The blond dwarf sitting in one of the armchairs lifted his head from his hand, and when his hazel eyes found my grey I could see his entire expression light up, "Well I'll be damned."

"Language," Thorin lightly chastised his brother, but there was no real heat behind it.

Naturally Frerin ignored his brother and stood up from his chair, "I never thought I'd see you again!" He walked up to me, and I noticed a limp in his leg. The same leg he broke in the Azanulbizar.

He noticed me looking at his leg, and laughed, "I ended up breaking it a second time. I'm now cursed to limp forever." I could feel the two little dwarves squirming on my back, and I shook my body to try and get them to stop before they were noticed.

"What are you doing here, Fròthi?" Thorin joined his brother to stand in front of me.

I grunted, and looked at the dwarven guard who was still in the room. There was no reason for him to be in here.

Thorin saw the glance, and sighed, "You are dismissed." The dwarf bowed low with a mumbled, "your majesty," before sweeping from the room.

"Alright snowflake," Frerin clapped his hands together, "what brings you to Ered Luin."

I turned myself to the side at the same time I gave a low cry, and the dwarflings on my back took this as their green light to fling my cloak away from their bodies. They gave simultaneous shouts of "uncle!" and swiftly fell from my back in their haste.

Thorin and Frerin were frozen in their shock, but when their nephews arms wrapped around their legs they jolted back to the present. Seconds later the two dwarflings were swept into giant hugs by the usually stoic dwarves.

Watching the two grown dwarves bury their faces in the hair of their nephews was enough to make me feel like I was intruding on a special moment. When I saw the tears slowly start falling down all of their cheeks I decided now would be the time to look away.

When a large hand set itself on my neck I turned to look into Thorins glassy eyes, "You found them. You saved them, and brought them back to us. We will forever be in your debt."

The word sent a pang through my heart. It reminded me of when Thráin braided my hair to show that I was friends with their line. Knowing that I was a part of their line in some way was already enough for me, so I shook my head because I had no need for their debt. I did what any other decent human being would do.

Thorin immediately sent for a guard to fetch his sister. When the dwarf entered the chambers I could see a visible strain in her features from thinking she lost both her sons. But when she saw her children safely in the arms of her brothers she cried, no, wept with joy. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire mountain could hear her.

I couldn't pretend to know what it was like to lose a child, not to mention both of them at once, but I could at least try and understand what she was going through. If Thráin suddenly appeared after all of these years of believing he was dead I would weep tears of joy as well.

While there was nothing but love saturating the air I could still hear the three dwarves scolding Fíli and Kíli for scaring them so badly. Each thinly veiled threat to spank them until they couldn't move from her sight never failed to extract a snort of amusement form me. The scene made me wonder what would have happened had I made it here with Thráin.

My musing was interrupted by a small body climbing back onto my back, "Fròthi saved us!" I looked to see Kíli had been the one to climb in my back, and he was telling his mother, with the help of Fíli, what had happened.

Dís, Thorins sister, slowly approached me. She pressed her forehead against mine, "I cannot thank you enough," her voice was thick with emotion, "I had thought them to be dead, but you brought them back to me. There is nothing worse then being forced to accept your children's death. It's like having the floor ripped from underneath you, and all you can do is try to survive in a never ending void of despair."

My chest rumbled in a comforting gesture, and I gently knocked my forehead against hers, before shaking Kíli off of my back and making my way for the door.

"Where are you going?" The worried voice belonged to Fíli.

"Will we ever see you again?" I looked down at Kíli, and nodded my head as regally as possible.

 _Sooner than you think little one_ , I pushed passed the growing crowd of dwarves and ran from the mountain as fast as I could go, _Sooner than you think._

* * *

 **AN: Alright happy chapter! And the best part is that we're starting The Hobbit storyline next chapter, so we'll be meeting the company.**


	11. TA 2941 (156 years old)

I'd been flying over Middle-Earth in the form of a hawk, thinking about Thráin, when I found myself face first against a stone hard wall.

Apparently I'd been subconsciously flying towards none other than Erebor.

I only knew that from the outside because I saw a dilapidated town sitting on the lake outside of the mountain, and that small hint made me fly all over the outside of the mountain in search for something small enough to let me in.

I found it on the very top of the mountain through what must have been somebody's old chambers. They obviously belonged to a more wealthy dwarf considering how well decorated it was, and the fact they had a balcony.

Exploring Erebors silent halls was both eerie and exhilarating. Eerie because I knew it should have been teeming with life, like the Blue Mountains had, and exhilarating because I was walking the halls of none other than the Lonely Mountain. The home of my favorite dwarves.

Of course while inside of the mountain I forgot one significant detail that might have saved me a ton of trouble.

* * *

 _I was walking down another unfamiliar hallway when something shiny flashed from the corner of my eye. I looked over to see an open archway that revealed an orange light._

 _Cautiously walking towards the arch I peeked around the wall to witness something that took my breath away._

 _Mountains upon mountains of gold, some almost touching the ceiling, covered the floor of the entire room. It wasn't even a room, it was more the size of a football field._

 _With measured steps I slowly descended down the spiral stone staircase. I made sure to stay away from the sides lest I end up falling to my death._

 _Just seeing the treasure room should have been enough to remind me there was a gigantic dragon living underneath the mountains of gold and jewels, but instead I was scared to near death when Smaug burst out from the pile directly in front of me. His eyes blazing, a snarl on his lips, and his enormous body hiding the other half of the room._

"Who dare enter my mountain!?" _His voice was such a deep baritone that I felt my bones vibrate._

"Forgive me Smaug the–The Terrible! I had completely forgotten that you had taken residence here in this mountain!" _My words practically dripped with the amount of fear I was feeling._

"Forgot you say? You forgot that I, Smaug, have plundered this mountain of every living dwarf, and kept it as my own?!" _smoke billowed from his nostrils from his anger._

"Please, sir, it was an honest mistake!" _I panicked,_ "What can I do to make it up to you?"

 _His chest rumbled as he slowly snaked his head around me to observe my every angle,_ "What is your name small one?"

"I…am called several things," _telling him my real name would have been bad, that much I knew_ , "For now you may call me…Fróthi." _It was the first name that came to my mind._

"Fróthi," _the word rolled off of Smaugs tongue with ease,_ "tell me, what are you?"

"Huh?" _I felt a little offended._

"You are obviously different from any dwarf or elf I've smelled and eaten," _that sent a shiver down my spine,_ "and while you have the scent of a human it is tainted. By what, I wonder?"

 _He obviously expected an answer to his question, but I wasn't going to tell him the truth, and a lie would spell my death,_ "I'm afraid I cannot answer that your greatness."

"Oh?" _smoke pulsed from his nose,_ "And why not?"

"Because people don't usually ask me why I smell weird, and so I never prepared an answer." _Probably my worst excuse for anything ever, but if it worked then I wouldn't complain._

 _He snarled,_ "Yet you know why you smell different from others of your race!"

 _I narrowed my eyes at him_ , "I have a hunch."

"Then you will have no problem with telling me."

 _He was just so…sure of himself. It irritated me to no end,_ "Let me rephrase my answer. I don't want to tell you."

 _A bad idea_ , "You won't tell me?" _His head lifted higher towards the ceiling._

"No."

"Fine," _he hissed._

 _His chest began glowing a dangerous orange color, and I knew I needed to get out of their as soon as I possibly could._

 _Diving for the nearest pillar I was just in time to miss being burnt to a blackened crisp. Even still the heat of the flames were so bad I was worried my hair had been singed by proximity alone._

 _Thing quickly I changed into a small bird and flew towards the exit. I could hear Smaug raging behind me, apparently looking for me but not finding me._

 _When I reached the doorway I turned back into a human, and just to spite him I placed a few handfuls of gold into my pack._

 _The noise, as small as it was, drew Smaugs attention to where I was standing._ "You can have this back if you catch me!" _I wiggled my bag before disappearing up the stone steps._

 _His roar was so loud I saw loose rocks and dust fall from the ceiling. I waited until I was safely out of sight before turning into a bat. It would be much easier navigating the dark mountain as the nocturnal creature, and it blended in better than a mouse would have._

 _I was lucky enough for Smaug to miss me, and I had to follow the faint scent of clean air to get out of the death trap of a mountain. Even from outside I could hear his angry roars, and I couldn't help but do an internal dance of victory._

* * *

As I flew away from the mountain in the form of a Great Eagle I told myself I would never return until I had to. But I soon found myself returning to Erebor once every year until the leather shoulder strap bag I brought with me was filled with gold.

After that last game of cat and mouse, me the mouse and Smaug the cat, I never returned to the mountain for another sixty years.

Now at sixty years since my last visit, I was going to be joining Thorin Oakenshields company to reclaim their lost home. The only problem was that I didn't know the exact day they were coming to get Bilbo from the Shire. So I stayed with a nearby herd of deer while I waited for any sign of dwarves.

Unfortunately for me it turns out staying with deer was much more dangerous than it should have been.

The herd was grazing in the forests surrounding the Shire, and since I technically wasn't a part of them I stayed off to the side. I just kind of stood there and watched them eat the grass beneath their feet. Eating raw fish was one thing, but I was not about to stoop so low as to eat grass. It tasted just like celery, only dirtier.

Since I was watching the deer I was able to see when a few of them lifted their heads with their ears pricked forward. After a moment they returned to their grazing, and I thought nothing of it.

That mistake brought me an arrow to the shoulder.

I shrieked in the only way a deer could, which had all of the others prancing deeper into the forest and out of sight.

The arrow in my shoulder was horribly painful, and stepping with that same hoof was too much to handle. To keep it from spreading down my shoulder and into my leg I changed back into a human. The transformation made the arrow move from the side of my shoulder to my shoulder blades.

The movement ripped another scream of pain from my throat, and I pressed my right hand as close to the arrow as I could get. It lessened the pain after a moment, and I was glaring at the trees surrounding the clearing, "Alright, who did this?"

Nothing moved, and the air was positively still, "There's obviously someone there, who _shot me_ with an _arrow_! Heaven forbid you went after one of the better deer, oh no, shoot the loner!"

I was grumbling to myself about the idiocy that the culprit held when a rustling from a nearby bush drew my attention.

Coming out from the foliage with his hands in the air, a bow held lightly in one, was a short man with shoulder length brown hair. Stubble covered his chin and upper lip. He was so short that he couldn't be anything other than a dwarf.

A familiar dwarf I haven't seen for decades.

"I," he seemed so confused I had to take pity on him and give him a soft smile, "I'm sorry for shooting you, I didn't know you…weren't a deer."

I sighed, "I suppose it's alright. You didn't know." I tried moving my shoulder, but I stopped with a hiss of pain.

"I'll help you get it out if you'd like?" The dwarf strapped his bow across his back, and gestured to the arrow. "My brother and I set up camp a little ways from here. We can help you there."

With a chuckle I slowly stood up from the ground, "Sounds a little scary. You're a stranger who could be luring me into a trap," my eyes twinkled with amusement.

The dwarf grinned devilishly, "Kíli," he bowed, "at your service." He stood back up with that same little grin, "Now you're the stranger here."

Huffing I raised an eyebrow at him and bowed mockingly, "Amber, at yours."

My suspicions about him being Kíli were correct, and apparently he was now leading me to his blonde brother. Naturally the first dwarves I meet are the same two dwarflings I saved from a snowstorm, and will save again during the Battle of the Five Armies.

We walked into a small campsite where Kíli's brother was sharpening one of his knives. He looked up to greet his brother, but his eyes found me instead, "What's this?" His eyebrows were raised in question.

Kíli sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "You know how I went hunting?" Fíli sighed but nodded, "Well when I shot the deer I ended up shooting Amber." He pointed at me when he said my name.

"You missed the deer and hit Lady Amber instead?" Fíli looked like he was holding back a laugh.

"No," Kíli huffed, "I shot the deer, but the deer turned out to be Amber."

I walked closer to the fire, and sat down at an angle where Fíli would be able to see the arrow protruding from my shoulder blade. "Amber," I nodded my head, "at your service."

"Fíli," he returned the nod, "at yours." He set aside his knife and gestured to the arrow, "May I?"

"Go for it," I removed my hand from my shoulder so the brothers could look at the damage. Thankfully I'd become adept enough to hunt for my own food, so I could now just use a simple leather strap bag that held a change of clothes, some water, trinkets I've collected, and my leather cloak rolled up on top.

I felt their fingers gently prodding around the area the arrow had sunken into when one set of hands paused. Soon afterwards the other set paused as well. I began wondering what they were doing, "What's wrong?"

One of them cleared their throat, "Where did you get the beads in your hair?" It was Fíli.

"Um, which ones?" Now that I thought about it I had quite a few beads. The one Aulë gave me and the ones from Thráin. "The ones in your, uh, main braid." Kíli would have held them out for me to see if it wasn't such an invasion of privacy. For a dwarf that is.

"They were left to me by a close friend," I absently pet the end of the braid hanging over my right shoulder. My hair was so long now that it could wrap around my shoulders like a scarf.

After a moment the hands returned to my shoulder, but more hesitant this time. Their reactions were understandable since their family crest was most likely carved on a few of the beads.

"The only thing we can do is pull it out and wrap it up with something." Fíli wrapped one hand around the arrow while laying the other one on my shoulder, "This is going to hurt."

Kíli dug through his bag, and when he didn't find what he was looking for brought the whole thing over to us. "Here," he held out the straps of his bag, "bite down on this."

"No, I don't want to ruin your bag." Carefully removing the strap of my own bag from my shoulder I brought it to my mouth, "I'll use my own." Biting down on the leather I nodded my head to Fíli so he knew I was ready.

I felt something grab my hand, and when I looked to see what it was a searing pain shot through my shoulder. My eyes squeezed shut, and my teeth clamped down hard enough to leave marks in the leather.

When the pain finally faded away I slowly opened my eyes, and blinked until the purple spots disappeared. My hand was starting to cramp from the grip I had, and I saw that I was holding onto Kíli's hand. I immediately let it go, "Sorry."

He shrugged, "Don't worry about it." If he were a man he would be rubbing his hand in pain, but dwarves were much more sturdy.

With one hand I started rummaging through my bag until I found my black shirt that reminded me of pirates, and a red vest. After contemplating whether or not to change in the forest I decided, meh, and started untying the green vest I was currently wearing.

"What are you doing?" Kíli sounded alarmed.

"Well for starters," I gently peeled the vest over my injured shoulder, "we need to bind it, and we can't do that while I'm still wearing my shirt. And second," I removed my white shirt that was now stained red from my blood, "they're covered in my blood. I need to change and wash them."

I could see Fíli shrug from the corner of my eye, "She's right you know."

Kíli huffed and grumbled for his brother to "shut up."

Fíli started bandaging the wound with strips of white cloth that he pulled from who-knows-where, and when he was done they helped me into my other clothes. Then when we were finished he tied a long strip of cloth into a sling, and placed it over my head before sticking my arm through it.

"Well," Fíli wiped his hands of any blood that might have gotten on them, "this was a waste." He started throwing dirt into the fire.

"What was a waste?" As painful as this was, it wasn't a waste for me. I found two very important dwarves.

"We stopped here so we could have something other than dried jerky and stale crackers, but instead of getting dinner Kíli got you instead," it would have been a rude remark had he not been smirking slyly.

I sniffed in mock offense, "I'm much better than any normal deer. You should be honored by my presence."

The brothers chuckled, and they set off for the Shire with me tagging along. "So what are you boys doing here in the Shire?" I already knew, but to the, I'm not supposed to.

Fíli responded, "We're looking for a hobbit."

"Oh?" I raised a brow, "Which hobbit."

"Bilbo Boggins," Kíli stated.

I snorted at the mispronunciation, "It's Baggins Kíli." They didn't seem to recognize the surname. Understandable for Kíli since he was young, but Fíli should have known.

"You know Mister Baggins?" Fíli asked.

"Yes actually. He's a good friend of mine." I had taken it upon myself to become well acquainted with the peaceful hobbit. He would always insist on giving me food once he found out I had no home, and for payment I told him about my adventures, and sometimes buy a few things for him from the market. Bilbo looked exactly as I remembered him to be, even with my fading memory

"Do you think you could lead us there?" Kíli sounded rather excited.

"Of course."

Fíli hummed while looking at the setting sun, "We'll be there earlier than we planned. Probably because we didn't get to eat a proper dinner." He shot an accusing look at his brother.

"Hey!" Kíli shouted indignantly, "I'll have you know it was Amber's fault!"

"Oh sure," my time was full of sarcasm, "blame the cripple."

Fíli shook his head mockingly, "Shame on you Kíli, for blaming a poor, defenseless woman."

I immediately stopped walking, "You did not just call me poor and defenseless."

Fíli smirked, "What are you gonna do about it? You said so yourself, you're crippled."

A feral snarl emerged from deep within my throat, and the brothers watched in astonishment as my body burst into fur, and my bones grotesquely morphed until I was in the form of a lioness.

To keep the scare factor I lightly pressed my arm against the ground, but didn't apply any pressure.

"But, but you were a deer," Kíli sounded so astonished I couldn't stop the purring laugh.

I shifted back into a human, and was thankful to see the sling was actually still in place, "I can turn into any animal I've seen before."

The brothers were looking at me with amazement,mans exclaimed at the same time, "That's amazing!"

The rest of our journey through the Shire was spent explaining my ability to shift into animals. The concept was so foreign since nobody else in Middle-Earth was able to do it. They wanted to know everything they possibly could, and what animal that was.

Lions were another animal that didn't live on this continent.

We reached the round green door a few minutes after the sun had set, and the three of us saw a glowing blue rune carved into the wood. If my Khuzdul was right then it meant burglar.

"We're pretty early," we observed the quiet hill with warm light filtering from the window.

"Probably the first to arrive," Kíli commented.

Dismissing their comments I strode up to the door and knocked three times (loudly) before opening the door, "Bilbo you here?!" The brothers shared a look before following me into the hobbit-hole.

A voice sounded from farther in the cozy home, "Amber, is that you?"

"Yeah! Come on out, I've got some visitors for yah."

Bilbo stepped out of his dining room and gave me a friendly smile, "It's good to see you Amber. I just finished cooking up some fish, would you like any?"

"Don't trouble yourself Bilbo," I sent him a smile of my own, "I can eat later."

He opened his mouth to argue with me, like he usually does when it comes to food, when he spotted the two dwarves behind me, "Who is this?"

Fíli stepped forward, "Fíli," Kíli stepped up next to his brother, "and Kíli," they bowed in unison, "at your service."

Bilbo was looking at the two dwarves in his home with a mix of curiosity and weariness, "Bilbo Baggins, at yours."

We were all standing around in awkward silence when there was a knock at the door. Bilbo volunteered to get it while I led Fíli and Kíli into the dining room where Bilbo's plate of fish was sitting on the table.

"So that's the hobbit," Fili mused to his brother.

Kíli hummed, "Doesn't look like much does he? Too soft."

I overheard their conversation, and felt a surge of protectiveness, "Bilbo is a good man, and a close friend," the boys quieted at my words, "and it would be wise of you not to underestimate him."

The conversation ended when another dwarf wandered into the room. He had two battle axes strapped to his back, and ino tattooed onto his bald head.

The boys confirmed my suspicions on who it was when they cheerfully called, "Dwalin!"

"Ah, boys!"

The three dwarves pulled each other into rough hugs, slapping each other on the backs. I concluded that the three of them were very well aquatinted, but how I wasn't sure.

"And who might this be?" Dwalin looked me up and down with his hands clasped behind his back, "Mrs. Baggins?"

I snorted, "He wishes."

Bilbo could be heard choking out in the hallway while the brothers laughed. "I'm afraid we ran into her on the outskirts of the Shire."

"Well," Fili grinned at his brother, "we wouldn't have had you not shot her with an arrow."

Kíli growled and wrestled his brother to the ground while Dwalin finally seemed to realize the sling on my shoulder wasn't for show. He didn't say anything about it, but Bilbo was certainly worried, "Good gracious, Amber! Are you quite alright?"

"I'm fine Bilbo," I waved away his worries with the hand that wasn't stuck in the sling. "Amber," I bowed to Dwalin, "at your service."

He raised a bushy eyebrow but bowed back, "Dwalin, at yours." Dwalin noticed the plate of fish on the dining table, and happily dropped onto the chair to dig into what was supposed to be Bilbo's dinner. Fíli and Kíli were still rolling about on the floor.

The doorbell suddenly rang for the second time that night, and I followed after Bilbo to see who it was–not before nearly tripping over the boys. I altered my vocal chords into those of a lion, and growled at them. Partial transformations were something I began teaching myself after Thráin died, and I got pretty good.

My eyes focused on the white haired dwarf in the doorway, but I could hear the brawl pause from behind as the boys struggled back to their feet.

"Balin," the white haired dwarf bowed to Bilbo, "at your service."

Bilbo was stuck staring at yet another dwarf, "Good evening."

Balin looked at the sky, "Yes, yes it is." He ducked inside of the hobbit hole, "Though, I think it might rain later." After his comment his eyes found mine, and a friendly smile lit up his features, "Are you Mrs. Baggins?"

I closed my eyes with a patient sigh, "Afraid not. I'm Amber," I bowed, "at your service."

He nodded, "Balin, at yours. Forgive me for my mistake."

"Don't worry about it, you're not the first."

Balin looked between the two of us with a serious expression, "Am I late?"

I stepped forward, "Quite the opposite Master Balin. Your the fourth to arrive."

"Thank you kindly, Lady Amber." Balin looked into the sitting room to his right and saw his brother with his hand stuck in a cookie jar. I had to smother a laugh at the sight of such a tough dwarf failing to get a cookie. Thankfully the urge melted away when he was able to pull his hand out of the jar.

"Evening brother," he sauntered towards his brother while Bilbo and I were left to watch their exchange.

"By my beard," Dwalin set the jar down on a nearby table, "You're shorter and wider then last we met."

"Wider, not shorter. Sharp enough for both of us." They laughed together as they clasped shoulders, and I completely forgot that they smashed their foreheads together in welcome. They seemed completely unaffected, but I rubbed my own forehead as if feeling the pain for them.

Bilbo stepped forward to say something, but was interrupted when Fíli and Kíli pushed passed us to greet the new dwarf warmly. I laid a comforting hand on Bilbo's shoulder as we followed Dwalin and Balin to the pantry while Fíli and Kíli disappeared somewhere deeper into the hobbit hole.

The two older dwarves were having their own side conversation as Bilbo tried to politely lay down the law. I contented myself with leaning against the doorframe and watching the poor hobbit try and gain some authority.

"It's not like I don't like visitors. I–I like visitors as much as the next…hobbit. But I do like to know them before they come," Bilbo briefly paused to think of the best word to use, "visiting."

I snorted at his brilliance, and he sent me a glare for my complete lack of help.

"The thing is, um," he turned back to the two dwarves contemplating the appearance of moldy cheese, when really it's just blue cheese, "The thing is, I don't know either of you," he watched as his cheese was carelessly thrown into the hall, "in the slightest." He turned back to his pantry, "I don't mean to be blunt, but I uh, I had to speak my mind," Bilbo raised his hands, "I'm sorry."

Dwalin and Balin looked at Bilbo at the same moment, and Bilbo awkwardly cleared his throat from the sudden attention. After a moment Balin nodded his head, "Apology accepted."

They returned to ignoring our presence, and I chuckled at Bilbo's baffled expression. "Come on Bilbo," I wrapped my free arm around his shoulders and led him into the dining room where we found Fíli and Kíli rearranging the table.

Just as he opened his mouth to try and tell them off Balin and Dwalin pushed passed us. "Well have to shove this in the hall, otherwise we'll never get everyone in," Balin ordered.

"Everyone? How many more are there?"

As if by magic the doorbell chimed once again. Bilbo slipped under my arm and looked at the door, "Oh no." He started walking towards his front door, "No, no, there's nobody home!"

I would have stayed to help move the table, but with one arm out of commission I decided to trail after Bilbo. My grin couldn't be held back as he yelled at whoever it was that rang his doorbell.

"Go away, and bother somebody else! There are far to many dwarves," he jerked his thumb in the direction of his dining room, "in my dining room as it is. I–If this is some, clot heads idea of a joke, then I can only say," he turned the door knob, "it is very poor taste."

As soon as the door was opened a large pile of dwarves fell into the threshold of the home. Bilbo was stuck staring at the sudden onslaught with astonishment while I let out a warm chuckle at the sight.

I hadn't felt this alive in years.

Bilbo looked up from the pile to a tall man dressed in a grey cloak with a wooden staff, the only one not to have fallen in. A good thing too because I wasn't sure if his old bones would be able to take it.

Bilbo was looking at the man with relief and resignation, "Gandalf."

The name sparked a sense of familiarity, and when I all of the dwarves freed themselves from their unintentional dog pile the grey wizard ducked into the home. I'd never met the man during my time in Middle-Earth, and I felt excitement well up inside of me.

Each dwarf introduced themselves in the same way Balin had, by stating their name and bowing, before moving on to me and asking if I was his wife. By the time they'd all moved further into the house I was completely fed up having to correct them all that, no, I was not his wife.

Almost immediately the dwarves found Bilbo's pantry, and he sternly told each one of them to put back the food they were carrying, but was ignored every time.

"Why hello there," an elderly voice sounded from my left, and I looked over, then up, to see Gandalf staring at me with kind blue eyes, "who might you be?"

"I'm Amber. A friend of Bilbo's," I tacked on that last part in case Gandalf decided to question my relationship with Bilbo as well.

"Ah," our conversation tapered off as we stepped forward to help the dwarves set the table. I thought it would be best to just set the silverware since I only had one useable hand. I've never realized how much I needed that hand before I now.

As they say, you never know what you had until you've lost it.

A dwarf by the name of Dori stepped up to Gandalf, and politely offered a cup of tea. He refused with the request for a glass of red wine. He moved to start counting everybody present when it was pointed out that Thorin wasn't there. "Yes, we appear to be one dwarf short."

"He's late is all," Dwalin had a mug of ale in his hands, "He travelled north to a meeting with our kin. He will come."

Dori came up with a small wine glass filled with red wine, and Gandalf took it with thanks. Unfortunately for him that glass was more the size of a shot, and he downed the whole thing in one gulp. He went to drink more, but adopted a forlorn look when he realized it was empty.

The dwarves all moved to take seats at the table, and piled food on top of their plates. From my place beside Bilbo I could see various foods being thrown about. I carefully snuck around them to fill up an extra plate before setting it aside in the kitchen.

I retook my place beside Bilbo. "This is quite the merry gathering," I commented.

"Merry ga–Amber there are _dwarves_ in my _house_! What are they doing here?"

"Only time will tell my friend." Of course I knew why they were here, but I wasn't about to tell him why. He would find out eventually, just not quite yet.

He shook his head and went to observe the pantry–only to discover that every item of food he owned was pilfered from it. I looked over his shoulder to survey the damage, and I couldn't help but shake my head. As fun as these dwarves were their manners were severely lacking.

A loud burping contest sounded from behind us. This was the moment when I could physically see Bilbo's temper reach new heights.

After the dwarves finished their meal I stayed close to the covered plate of food to make sure none of the word sniff it out and eat it. This was when Bilbo none-too-gently ripped a hole filled fabric from a dwarfs hands, "Excuse me that is a doily, not, a dishcloth."

Bofur looked at him with confusion, "But it's full of holes."

"Yes it's supposed to look like that, it's crochet," he began folding the "doily".

"Oh, and a good game it is too. If you've got than balls for it," I snorted loudly, catching Bofur's attention. He sent me a wink, and I grinned back.

Gandalf found Bilbo rubbing his forehead tiredly, "My dear Bilbo, what on earth is the matter?"

I gave the wizard a look because, really? Did he seriously just ask that?

"What's the matter?" Bilbo followed the tall wizard, "I'm surrounded, by dwarves. What are they doing in my home?" he demanded.

"Oh they're quite a merry gathering," Gandalf watched as two dwarves started fighting over a strip sausage links, "once you get used to them."

"I don't want to get used to them!"

I shoved the plate of food onto a shelf too high for the dwarves to reach, and followed after the duo to continue listening in on their conversation.

"The state of my kitchen! There's mud," Bilbo pointed to the floor, "trod in the carpet. The–they pillaged the pantry! I'm not even going to tell you what they've done on the bathroom, they've all but destroyed the plumbing."

I wrinkled my nose at that, and made a mental note that should I need to go I should travel to the Gamgee's. They'd be nice enough to let me use theirs.

"I don't understand what they're doing in my house!" Bilbo's voice raised at each word that came tumbling out of his mouth, and I stepped forward to lay a hand on his tense shoulders.

At that moment Ori walked up to Bilbo with his dirty plate in hand, "Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?" I couldn't help but smile at the adorableness that was Ori.

Fíli chose that moment to make his presence known, "Here you go Ori, give it to me." He snatched the plate from Ori's hands and threw it down the hall.

Kíli was just in time to catch it and whip it into the room behind him. Another plate was thrown, and the cycle continued.

Silverware was soon flying all over the room, and I racked my brain trying to remember this part of the story. When I realized what part we were at I grinned wickedly.

"Excuse me!" Bilbo was pointing at his flying dishes, "That's my mothers West Farthing pottery; it's over a hundred years old!"

The dwarves paid him no attention as they continued tossing plates and cups into the kitchen, and making a beat with the silverware.

"And–And can you not do that? You'll blunt them!"

I sighed, _Oh Bilbo, stuttering won't get them to listen._ I would have tried stopping them if I didn't want to hear the song.

"Oh'd you here that lads?" Bofur asked, "He said well blunt the knives."

Kíli started singing, "Blunt the knives, bend the forks,"

Fíli picked up the tune, "Smash the bottles, and burn the corks,"

"Chip the glasses, and crack the plates," Óin joined in even with his ear trumpet.

Every dwarf started singing, "That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!"

"Cut the cloth, tread on the. Leave the bones in the bedroom mat! Pour the milk on the pantry floor…Splash the wine on every door!" No matter how much I wanted to join in by throwing some silverware I couldn't. I didn't have that much finesse, "Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl, pound them up with a thumping pole, when they're finished if they are whole, send them down the hall to roll!" There was a small interlude where they just kept dancing and kicking around the silverware before singing the last line, "That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!"

Bilbo shoved himself into the room, and they all laughed at his astonished expression. I had to admit I was pretty impressed as well.

The fun was abruptly interrupted when three loud knocks echoed from the front door. Everybody grew silent and looked in the direction where the knocks originated.

Gandalf removed his pipe from his mouth, "He is here."

* * *

 **AN: I had so much fun writing this that I'm already going to start writing the next chapter**.


	12. Meeting the leader

**Khuzdul**

* * *

The dwarves were all crowded around the front door when Gandalf slowly opened it to reveal the one and only, Thorin Oakenshield. His stance screamed regal, and I couldn't help but note that he had aged well since I last saw him.

He looked inside of the hobbit hole, and his eyes found the grey wizard. "Gandalf," he smirked as he stepped inside, "I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way. Twice."

I internally snorted, _Great. Our leader has issues with direction._

Thorin started removing his cloak, "I wouldn't have found it at all, if it hadn't been for that mark on the door."

This was the moment Bilbo made his presence known, "Mark? There's no mark on that door, it was painted a week ago!"

Gandalf softly shut the door, "There is a mark, I put it there myself." He at least sounded a bit sheepish when he admitted that. He looked from Thorin to Bilbo, "Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce you to the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield.

Thorin handed of his cloak. "So," he crossed his arms as he observed Bilbo, "this is the hobbit." He started circling him, "Tell me Mister Baggins have you done much fighting?"

Bilbo tried following him with his eyes, "Pardon me?"

"Ax or sword? Which is your weapon of choice?"

"Well I do have some skill at conkers, if you must know, but I fail to see why that's relevant."

Thorin crossed his arms with a smirk, "Thought as much." He glanced at his Company, "He looks more like a grocer than a burglar."

The dwarves all laughed, but I had a stern frown on my face as I stepped forward, "And here I thought Kings were supposed to have manners," Thorin set his stern eyes on mine, but it was nothing compared to the madness I've seen in Thráins, "but apparently I was wrong."

The air was still as Thorin and I glared at one another, "Is this Mrs. Baggins?"

I snarled, "I am most certainly not! The next person to ask me will be hit upside the head with a chair!" My outburst startled the dwarves, and I could see the surprise flicker in Thorin's eyes.

"Then who are you?"

I took a deep breath to calm down, "My name is Amber."

"And what reason do you have to be here?"

His questions were starting to irritate me, but I pushed it aside because I knew they were reasonable questions, "Kíli shot me in the shoulder with an arrow," I could hear Kíli squawk when every dwarf's eyes landed on him, "and when I found out they were coming to Bag End, my friends home, I tagged along."

Kíli jumped into the conversation, "I didn't do it on purpose! You were a deer!" All the dwarves but Fíli looked at him as if he were crazy.

I chuckled under my breath and made my way towards the kitchen, while the dwarves sat themselves at the table with Thorin at the head. I took the opportunity to take a deep, steadying breath, before grabbing the plate of food I'd put off to the side and joining them.

They had just set down a bowl of stew when I swooped in. "I'll take that," I swiped the soup, an action that had the others gasping, and set the plate down in front of him.

Everyone stared at the plate piled high with different meats, potatoes, and roasted stuffed vegetables. It was all food they had eaten at their own dinner. Something vastly more appetizing than a simple bowl of stew.

Thorin looked up at me and gave a slow nod of appreciation. I returned the nod with equal respect, and leaned against the back corner off to Thorins right. I was forced to drink from the rim of the bowl since I had the use of only one hand.

"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin?" Balin was the first to speak when their leader began eating, "Did they all come?"

Thorin nodded his head, "Aye. Envoys from all seven kingdoms."

The dwarves happily began talking with their neighbor when Dwalin spoke up, "And what did the dwarves of the Iron Hills say? Is Dain with us?"

Thorin paused in his eating, and looked down at the table, "They will not come." Disappointed sighs could be heard from every dwarf. "They say this quest is ours, and ours alone."

Bilbo was tucked up against the wall, and I hadn't even noticed him until he asked, "You're going on a quest?"

Gandalf turned in his seat, "Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light." Bilbo left to go and get more candles while Gandalf pulled a map out from his robe, "Far to the East, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak."

Bilbo leaned over with a candlestick in his hand, "The Lonely Mountain." The candle grew closer and closer to Thorins hair. I quickly set aside the bowl to wrench the candle from his hold, "A little more caution, hm?" I raised an eyebrow at him while setting the candle down onto the table.

He blushed from the glare sent his way by Thorin, and scurried out of the room.

With yet another nod to Thorin I went back to my corner to finish of my soup.

Another dwarf cleared a throat, Gloin if I remembered correctly, "Óin has read the portents, and the portents say: it is time." All of the dwarves rolled their eyes at the word portents.

Gandalf flicked his finger, and I saw a small flame appear out of this air. The sight amazed me, and it cemented the fact that he really was a wizard.

Óin spoke up for himself, "Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold. When the birds of the old return to Erebor the reign of the beast will end."

A voice from out in the hallway captured everybody's attention, "Um…what beast?"

"Well that would be a reference to Smaug the terrible, chiefest and greates calamity of our age," Bofur's lazily explained. "Airborne fire breather, teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks, extremely fond of precious metals."

Bilbo nodded to Bofur, "Yes I know what a dragon is."

Ori shot out of his seat, "I'm not afraid, I'm up for it. I'll give him a taste of dwarfish iron right up his jacksy!" All the dwarves but Dori, who pulls him back into a chair, cheer in agreement.

They quieted down when Balin started speaking, "The task would be difficult with a army behind us, but we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best, nor brightest."

The others mumbled in offense with Ori asking, "Who are you calling dim?"

Fíli hit his hand against the table, "We may be few in number. But we're fighters, all of us! To the last dwarf!"

"And you forget we have a _wizard_ in our company. Gandalf would have killed hundreds of dragons in his time," Kíli chipped in.

"Oh, now I…I wouldn't say–"

Gandalf was cut off by Dori, "How many then?"

"What?"

"How many dragons have you killed?" Everyone looked at Gandalf, who started coughing on the smoke from his pipe. "Well go on. Give us a number!"

The dwarves all stood up from their chairs and started shouting at one another. Bilbo feebly tried to diffuse it, but it was Thorin who grew tired and finally ended it, "Shazara!" Every dwarf sat down without complaint, and looked up to their leader, "If we have read these signs, so you not think others will have read them too?"

He had everyone's undivided attention, including mine, "Rumors have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for sixty years. Eyes look East to the mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor?!"

The dwarves began cheering once again, and I internally applauded the well thought out speech.

"You forget! The front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain." _Way to rain on everybody's parade there Balin._

"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true," Gandalf pulled an old key from his robe, and Thorin looked at it in astonishment, "How came you by this?"

"It was given to me by your father, by Thráin, for safekeeping," I narrowed my eyes at the admission. This obviously happened before I met him. "It is yours now," he handed Thorin the key.

"Of there is a key," Fíli's voice was soft, "there must be a door."

Gandalf nodded, and pointed his pipe at the map, "These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls."

Kíli clasped his brothers shoulders, "There's another way in." His voice sounded so hopeful I couldn't scorn him for stating the obvious.

It was Gandalfs turn to put a damper on things, "Well, if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed," he sighed. "The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map, and I do not have the skill to find it, but there are others in Middle-Earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage. But if we are careful and clever, I believe that it can be done."

Ori spoke up, "That's why we need a burglar."

Bilbo, _poor poor Bilbo_ , hummed, "And a good one too. An expert I'd imagine."

"And are you?" Gloin asked.

He looked at Gloin then around the room as if he might be talking to someone else, "Am I what?"

Óin turned to the others at the table, "He said he's an expert!"

"Me?" Bilbo exclaimed in surprise, "No! No, no, no! I'm not a burglar, I've never stolen a thing in my life! Amber's the burglar here."

I looked up from my empty bowl of soup to see everyon in the room was looking directly at me, "Bilbo I'm not a burglar."

"Oh? And what about that time you told me you stole that elven kings crown?"

"He deserved it!" I defended.

"And the numerous times you went into Erebor and stole from Smaug?"

"Bilbo!" I shrieked.

But the damage had been done. The atmosphere grew tense as soon as the sentence fell from Bilbo's lips, and I ever so slowly met the eyes of every dwarf before locking gazed with Thorin. "You've been to Erebor?"

"Well not," I swallowed, "not recently."

"You stole from Smaug?" Fíli asked. Kíli tacked on, "And lived?"

"It–" I sighed, "it was decades ago. I was wandering when I found myself in front of Erebor. I went inside, got in an argument with Smaug, and to spite him I stole some of the gold."

Bilbo continued to try and be helpful, "And you did so several times."

"Why don't we have Lady Amber come instead?" Kíli asked, "She obviously has the experience."

"I would love to accompany you, and if it's alright with Mister Oakenshield then I will come," I shared a look with him that said we would be talking about this later, "but Smaug is most likely still in the mountain. As soon as I step inside he'll recognize my scent and reign hell. Bilbo would be the better choice."

"I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with Lady Amber, Mr. Baggins is hardly burglar material," Balin commented. To which Bilbo seemed to wholeheartedly agree with.

"Aye, the wild is no place for gentle folk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves," I saw Dwalins eyes briefly flicker to me before settling on Bilbo.

 _Oh no_. I walked forward, and leaned my good elbow on the table, "Look at my face _Master_ Dwalin," I spat the formal title whilst pointing a finger to the scar going across my face. The scar I got from the Azanulbizar, "Do I look like some pansy who sits at him and knits all day? No, I don't think so. I've been protecting myself from those 'wilds' for decades."

"Then I assume," sending one final glare at Dwalin I looking at Thorin, "you know how to use a weapon."

"Aye. I use a sword and I know my way around a bow," this made Kíli smile, "I also have some skill when it comes to hand-to-hand combat." The last one was more of a reference to my animal forms.

"The road will be dangerous."

I sent him a bittersweet smile, "It can't be anything worse than I've already gone through."

"Maybe the lassie is able to defend herself, but the hobbit is not."

Dwalins words sent everybody spiraling back into an argument. Gandalf silenced them by standing up from his seat, a black cloud forming around him and expanding across the ceiling, "Enough! If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar then a burglar, he is," the dark shadow melted away.

"Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet. In fact, they can pass unseen by most if they choose, and while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of a dwarf, the scent of a hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage," Bilbo opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when Gandalf say back down, "You asked me to find the fourteenth member of this company, and I have chosen Mr. Baggins. There's a lot more to him than appearances suggest. And he's got a great deal more to offer than any of you know," he looked at Bilbo, "including himself."

Gandalf looked back at Thorin, "You must trust me on this."

Thorin agreed, "Very well, give them the contract."

Balin stood up with a folded up piece of paper, "It's just the usual summary of out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth," Thorin took the paper then passed it to Bilbo.

"Funeral arrangements?" Bilbo asked the room at large before turning away to read the contract.

I sighed and retrieved a quill, "Give me that." I plucked the contract from his hands and didn't bother reading anything on it before signing my name at the bottom.

When I gave it back to Bilbo he started mumbling what he was reading out loud, "'Totals cash on delivery, up to but not exceeding, one fourteenth of total profit if any'."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, "Bilbo, just sign it."

Bilbo ignored me, "Uh…'The present company shall not be liable for injuries inflicted by or sustained as a consequence thereof, including, but not limited to…lacerations. Evisceration'," he turned the page and looked at the group of dwarves with incredulously raised eyebrows, "Incineration?"

"Oh aye," Bofur nodded, "he'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye."

Bilbo started taking steadying breaths, and Balin leaned forward, "You alright laddie?"

"Yeah, okay," he leaned against his knees, "I feel a bit feint."

Bofur was either trying to be helpful or spur it on, "Think furnace, with wings."

"I…I…I need air," Bilbo pressed a hand to his chest.

"Flash of light, searing pain, then poof! You're nothing more than a pile of ash!"

Bilbo suddenly became quiet, and I stepped forward worriedly, "Bilbo."

He opened his mouth, closed it, then said, "Nope," and fell to the floor in a dead feint.

"Bofur?" The dwarves looked at me, "You're an idiot." I tried picking him up with one hand, but found I couldn't do it. "Fine," ripping off the makeshift sling I rolled my shoulders, feeling a stab of pain originate from my wound, before leaning down and hefting Bilbo's body over my right shoulder.

I carried him into the another room and set him down in his arm chair. Gandalf followed me while Dori brought in a cup of tea.

The dwarves all dispersed about the house while they'd waited for Gandalf to finish talking with Bilbo. Fíli and Kíli tried to get me to put the sling back on, but I waved them away. It restricted my movements more than I was comfortable with.

Apparently the talk didn't go so well, as Bilbo came striding out of the room and left down another hall. I was ready to follow after him when two voices began speaking.

"It appears we have lost our burglar," Balin commented to Thorin as they watched Bilbo walk away. "Probably for the best. The odds were always against us. After all, what are we? Merchants, miners, tinkers, toy makers? Hardly the stuff of legend."

Thorin had a small smile on his face, "There are a few warriors amongst us."

"Old warriors," Balin refuted.

"I would take each and every one of these dwarves over an army from the Iron Hills, for when I called upon them, they answered. Loyalty, honor, a willing heart," Thorin shook his head, "I can ask no more than that."

Balin stood up from the box he was sitting on, "You don't have to do this. You have a choice. You've done honorably by our people. You have built a new life for us in the Blue Mountains. A life of peace and plenty. A life that is worth more than all the gold in Erebor."

"From my grandfather, to my father," Thorin held up the key Gandalf gave him, "This has come to me. They dreamt of the day when the dwarves of Erebor would reclaim their homeland. There is no choice, Balin. Not for me."

Balin started lightly nodding his head, "Then we are with you laddie. We will see it done," he clasped Thorins arm before moving down the hall.

It was silent for a moment before Thorin spoke up, "You can come out now." Knowing I'd somehow been caught I stepped around the corner. "Did you think I would not hear you?" He looked at me with stern eyes.

I gave him a small smile, "I wasn't trying to be stealthy Master Oakenshield." For the first time that night I noticed something, something that made my eyes glisten, "You have your fathers eyes."

The sudden mention of his father startled Thorin, though he did not show it, "How would you know?"

"I was very close to your father," I whispered. "But that doesn't matter right now," Thorin greatly disagreed, but I didn't let him speak, "I wanted to tell you that this quest will succeed, I know it. I can feel it," I smiled at him, and any trace of tears were gone from my eyes, "And I await the day I get to see you proudly sitting on your rightful throne."

I bowed deeply, **"My king."** Quickly straightening I strode away from the hallway to meet up with the other dwarves.

Thorin moved to follow after me, but when it turned out I entered a room occupied by a few of the others he paused. He stared me down, and I knew he would question me when he next got the chance.

He moved towards the mantelpiece, and I faintly heard him begin humming a familiar melody. the rest of the dwarves slowly joined in. The low notes threatened to lull me to sleep, so I stood up from the chair I was in to walk into the hallway.

I was still close enough to hear Thorin begin singing,

 _"Far over the Misty Mountains cold. To dungeons deep and caverns old."_

The other dwarves added their own voices to the haunting melody, _"We must away ere break of day. To find our long forgotten gold._

 _The pines were roaring on the height, the winds were moaning in the night. The fire was red, it flaming spread. The trees like torches blazed with light."_

The song struck a chord in me, and I slowly walked deeper in the hobbit hole to the room I had claimed earlier that evening. My bow and sword were learning against the corner of the room, and with a heavy sigh I tucked myself under the covers.

My feet started feeling a bit cold, and I looked down to see them sticking off the end of the bed.

Sighing again I changed into the form of a dog, and made myself comfortable on the now normal sized bed. It wasn't long before I slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **AN: I'll have the dwarves notice it in the beginning of the next chapter. I guess I just had it figured that they just didn't look close enough to her hair to realize the beads there are from Thráin. And yes I realize I just posted a chapter like an hour or so ago, but I couldn't help it I got way into my writing.**


	13. WHOO Journey!

My eyes slowly drifted open to reveal the suns soft rays just now peaking out over the horizon. Yawning widely I stretched out my front legs, before stretching my back. I was still in my dog form from when I went to bed last night, so I shifted back into a human and strapped on my weapons.

The door to my room opened without so much as a squeak. I breathed a sigh of relief, and slowly tiptoed my way through the halls to the front door. I was almost there when I briefly looked into the main living room.

Backing up a couple steps my astonished eyes took in the mounds of dwarves laying all over the floor. There wasn't an inch of space to be had as some slept on chairs, two snuggled up on a table, and the rest were sprawled out over the floorspace.

Muffling my laughter by pressing a hand to my face I quickly continued to the door. Unbeknownst to me a pair of hard blue eyes had seen my escape.

Closing the door behind me with a soft click I rounded the small hill so that I could scale the side and sit on the grassy top. When I made it up there I sat down to what he the rest of the sunrise, and instead I was greeted by the sight of fifteen ponies, plus a horse, all grazing in Bilbo's backyard.

I choked on my laughter, and couldn't help but wonder what Bilbo would do when he discovers the state of his backyard.

"What are you doing."

I yelped in surprise. Turning around I saw none other than Thorin standing with his hands crossed behind his back looking down his nose at me.

My hand was pressed to my chest in an attempt to slow my heart rate, "Good god Thorin, make some noise next time!"

His face was carefully blank, and I had no idea on what he could be thinking, "I asked what you were doing."

"Out here?" I continued at his nod of impatience, "I always wake up this early, and when I do I watch the rest of the sunsrise. Of course," my amused eyes fell on the group of ponies, "I didn't expect to see the herd trampling over Bilbo's grass. I can already imagine Bilbo's tantrum."

His soft footsteps brought him closer to where I was sitting but he didn't sit down himself, "Last night you said you knew my father."

A gusty sigh escaped me, and I resigned myself to missing the sunrise, "Yes I knew your father." When I stood up I brushed off any lingering pieces of grass. "He wasn't very open when it came to talking about his family, but," my sparkling grey eyes connected with his, "from what I've heard he was very proud of you. Along with your siblings."

"Where is he?"

I took a deep, shuddering breath, "It has been years since I've last spoken to anyone about Thráin. It is not an easy topic. Give me some time, and I will try to answer your questions."

Thorin looked me in the eye for a few long moments before nodding his consent. I knew he wanted to demand answers about what I knew of his father, but he could see how deeply the topic affected me. He's seen many a dwarf with such grief, and seeing it in me only made him want answers even more.

"What time are we leaving?" A fairly obvious topic change, but I really wanted to know.

"I will be waking the rest of the Company for a quick breakfast before we head off."

I nodded my head thoughtfully and looked around at al of the ponies, then the amount of saddles there were. "Do you want to do that while I start saddling the ponies?"

It may be best to wait for everyone to saddle their own mounts. Everyone has their own saddle."

Without much of an option I followed after Thorin, and we stepped into the hobbit hole together. I followed after him to where the others were still laying out across the floor of the room.

I could feel more than hear his sigh, and I smarked to myself, "I got this."

Closing my eyes I cleared my throat, and I could feel my vocal chords shifting into that of a wolfs. I there back my head and let out a long, eerie howl.

After a couple of seconds I ended the howl. When I looked back into the room I could see the dwarves were up and ready with their weapons out. Though a couple were still bleary eyed.

I gave Thorin a sassy smile, and when my normal vocals returned I said, "Done." He watched me disappear into the kitchen where I began my hunt for any leftover food that could be cooked up for breakfast.

The largest dwarf of the Company, Bombur, joined me in my hunting and he cooked up whatever we were lucky enough to find. There wasn't much, but he was still able to make it taste gourmet.

During breakfast I kept my head ducked over my plate, but when con versatile between all the dwarves ceased I looked up to see them all staring at me. I furrowed my brows worriedly, "What?"

Ori, who was sitting right next to me, shyly piped up, "Fíli and Kíli were telling us about the beads in your hair."

"You mean these?" I unwrapped my main braid and pointed to the few beads scattered across it.

"Aye," Dwalins gruff voice sounded from farther down the table. "Said you got them from a friend of yours. Do you know who that was?"

They didn't think I realize do just who it was that gave me these beads, "It was Thráin. Thorins father." I suddenly grew worried and looked at Thorin, "Did you want them back?"

He reluctantly shook his head. A few of the younger dwarves seemed surprised, but the elders were more familiar with the significance of giving beads, "He gave you those to keep."

I nodded in gratitude. I wasn't sure what I would do if I gave them up. They were as much a part of me as my arm, or leg. "Thank you," I rewrapped my braid and let the end hang from my right shoulder, making sure it didn't sit on the table. My other hand came up to play with the braid Aulë had given me.

Over the 142 years I've had this braid it still only reached my jaw. Whatever Aulë had done when putting it in my hair made it super soft, and prevented it from growing a single inch, it was interesting comparing it to my longer hair.

A sharp gasp came from where Ori was sitting, and when I looked at him I saw his eyes had zeroed in on the golden bead clasped at the end of my small braid. His wide stare made me close my fit around the bead, and it seemed to bring him back to himself.

"What is it laddie?"

I grabbed my plate and started washing it in the sink. From behind me I could hear Ori stuttering out an explanation about the appearance of the golden bead. Apparently it had the mark of Mahal carved into it.

When I finished cleaning my plate I turned around to see that, once again, everyone of the dwarves had their eyes on me. Uncomfortable with the attention I cleared my throat, "Yes?"

"You have a bead from Mahal?" Bofur voiced what everybody else was thinking.

I contemplated lying, but no doubt that would cause a heap load of trouble, "I do." I flicked the bead for emphasis.

"Why?" Thorin demanded.

That was a hard question for me to answer. Nobody but Thráin had ever known the answer to that question. The elves had never asked, and the star filled vial was constantly under my shirt and away from prying eyes. Of course if I chose to tell them it didn't have to be the full truth, that can come later, "Aulë gave it to me when I was taken from my home."

The dwarves suddenly grew angry, and I wondered what exactly I had said to set them off when Fíli cleared it up for me, "You were stolen from your home?"

"I suppose so, yes."

"You 'suppose so'?" Thorin raised a brow.

"Well," I scratched my chin trying to think of a way to explain this, "I was taken for a reason–" wrong choice of words. The dwarves started shouting and I had to raise both hands before they eventually quieted down, "It wasn't an all together _bad_ reason. The only bad part about it was that I'd never see my family or friends again," my eyes grew somber when thinking of their fading memories.

"They took you from your family?" Kíli sounded horrified.

I sighed because there was really no way to make that sound okay, "Yes, they did, but I was able to make new friends," I thought of the elves in Lothlórien, "and new family," images of Elladan, Elrohir, and Thráin flashed through my mind.

Thorin ended the conversation there, though it was easy to see that he, along with the rest of the dwarves, we're not happy with what I've told them, "Clean everything up. It's time for us to head out."

They immediately dispersed from the table, and after a brief visit to make sure Gandalf was awake, I followed them all outside to watch them saddle their ponies.

"Where is your mount?"

I startled violently, and spun to see Thorin looking at me from the corner of his eye, "I said don't do that!" I pressed a hand to my chest and took calming breaths, "I don't have one, but I can always ride with Gandalf later."

"Later?"

"I consider Bilbo to be a very good friend of mine. I'd hate to leave without saying goodbye."

He seemed to understand how I felt about this so didn't press against it. When he pulled myself up onto his pony I gripped his ankle to make him look down at me, "Just so you know, I would bet on him coming."

Thorin's eyebrow twitched in confusion. When I didn't answer he shouted a few words in Khuzdul and they set off. I could hear some of them ask why I wasn't following, "Cause I'm staying behind! Don't worry, I'll catch up!" I waved for a few moments before goink back into Bilbo's smial.

There was barely a sound to be heard now that all of the dwarves had left. No doubt I would have heard a mouse if it sneezed.

Since I didn't know when Bilbo would wake up I decided to wander around his comy home. I found where Gandalf placed the contract and couldn't help but smirk. The sly old wizard knew that would break the poor hobbit.

The rest of my time in the smial was spent looking through Bilbo's large collection of books. There was such a large variety ranging from history to fantasies that I didn't know where to start.

I was deeply immersed in a fantasy about a young hobbit girl befriending an old dragon (It was so ironic I couldn't help but pick it up to read it) when a voice sounded throughout the smial. Closing the book I set it back on the bookshelf to find where the voice came from.

I searched the home for a few minutes before finding Bilbo staring down at the contract, "They left a couple hours ago."

He turned to see me leaning against the archway with my arms crossed. I was careful to lean against my uninsured shoulder since the other one was still quite sore. "If we're quick we can catch up."

Bilbo stared at me for a few moments looking a little lost before gazing back down at the contract. A beat of silence later and he suddenly bolted further down the hallway and disappeared to the left.

A grin lit up my entire face as I rushed around to help Bilbo pack as best as I could. I wasn't able to do much since I didn't really know where anything was so I basically just rushed behind the small hobbit while shouting a list of things he would need most. Along the way I picked up a quill, dipped it in an inkwell, and when we passed the contract I picked it up and shoved the two items into his chest.

He was a millimeter from signing his name right beneath mine when he paused. We stood there for several moments, and when he made no move to sign I grew worried, _What if he changed his mind?_ "Bilbo?"

He looked up at me and sent me an excited, but worried smile, "Is this really happening?"

I huffed a laugh and clapped a hand onto his shoulder, "It really is my friend, it really is. Now hurry up and sign! They've already got a good head start on us!"

Finally placing the top of the quill to the parchment Bilbo signed his name with a flourish before haphazardly throwing the quill onto a nearby desk. We ran for the door, and after making sure he locked it we were racing down the grassy hill of Bag End.

Since I was faster I ended up taking the lead, and I found myself jumping over wooden fences meant to keep the hobbits pigs and chickens. At one point I was heading straight for a hobbit pushing a large pumpkin in a wheelbarrow. With an exhilarated laugh I vaulted over the orange fruit. The poor guy looked so startled I couldn't help but shout, "Sorry!"

After that I tried sticking to the small pathways, but taking a shortcut here and there was unavoidable. We were just about to make it out of the rolling hills when a hobbit shouted out to Bilbo, "Here, Mr. Bilbo! Where are you off too?"

I could hear his reply from somewhere behind me, "I can't stop, I'm already late!"

"Late for what?" The hobbit sounded terribly confused.

"I'm going on an adventure!"

Hearing what I suddenly remembered to be one of my favorite lines from the movie I gave a genuine smile that reached my hardened grey eyes. There wasn't much these days that could cheer me up. Thráin always managed to make me feel better about anything. Then he died and I felt like there wasn't much left for me to go on. The only thing I had to look forward to was the Company. The whole reason I was brought to Middle-Earth.

The two of us have been running for a while now, and I was a good distance away from Bilbo. My stamina has greatly increased over the years since Thráin decided I would be the horse for our journeys and carry everything. I barely felt out of breath while Bilbo was probably panting from exhaustion. Though I was too far away to hear it.

After a while I could see a group of black dots on the horizon. My speed picked up until I could clearly see a group of thirteen dwarves being led by a very tall wizard. I slowed back down to a nice jog, but didn't stop when I made it to the large group. Instead I continued jogging, and after passing a few of the dwarves I could hear them start calling out my name in pleasant surprise.

I gave them a few waves and a grin before finally dropping into a walk beside Thorins pony, "You realize, with the speed you guys are going, a snail could beat you to Erebor." They really were going awfully slow.

"Any faster and we risk tiring out the ponies. Not to mention we were all waiting on you." Thorin turned in his saddle to look for something, and when he didn't find it stared back at me, "Where is the hobbit? I seem to remember you saying you'd bet on him coming."

"It may have slipped your notice Master Oakenshield, but I have longer legs than hobbits do. I was simply the faster runner."

"Then he is coming?" I couldn't tell if he was happy about that or not.

"He is coming, yes." We spent the next few minutes in companionable silence when I suddenly gasped, "Did you see that?"

Thorins eyebrows furrowed as he tried to figure out what I was talking about, "What?"

"That snail! It just passed us!" Thorin only grunted. This dwarf had no sense of humor.

A voice suddenly shouted from behind the company, "Wait!…Wait!" The dwarves all halted their ponies and Gandalf turned his horse to look behind us.

Sure enough there was Bilbo, panting and out of breath with the contract hanging out of his hand.

When I looked up at Thorin from the corner of my eye I saw him looking at the hobbit with a level of disbelief. Despite the fact I told him not five minutes ago that Bilbo was coming.

"I signed it," Bilbo held it out for Balin to take. The elder dwarf held some sort of magnifying glass up to his eye, and examined Bilbo's signature.

I snorted at the look on Bilbo's face when he watched the pony Balin was riding on. It was obvious the poor hobbit had never ridden on a horse before, possibly never even seen one.

"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield," he sent Bilbo a wink while the rest of us have small cheers. I decided to be special and whistle for him. Three quick ones before a fourth, longer one.

Thorin did neither of those things. Instead turning his own mount and looking at the road ahead, "Give him a pony."

Bilbo's reluctance was clearly visible, and you could hear it in his voice. "No, no, no, no. That…that won't be necessary. Thank you. I'm sure I can keep up on foot. Yeah, I…I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know? Even got as far as Frog Morton once–ahh!"

Fíli and Kíli cut off Bilbo's excuses by riding up on either side of him and picking him up by the scruff of his shirt. They dropped him on a nearby pack pony, to the amusement of the Company.

Gandalf dropped back to ride next to Bilbo, and I heard one of the dwarves call out, "Come on Nori, pay up!"

I looked back to see pouches of money being thrown from dwarf to dwarf. Though I couldn't hear him I knew Bilbo was asking Gandalf what was going on.

A rough voice sounded from beside me, "Dwalin."

A few grumbles were heard from the intimidating dwarf, and I saw him throw a small pouch at Thorin. When the leader caught it I heard the unmistakable sound of money clinking together.

I couldn't help but laugh softly, "You listened to me." He only grunted his agreement while stuffing the bag of money into one of his inner coat pockets.

Sneezing sounded from somewhere behind us, and a few moments later Bilbo was shouting for us all to stop. We did so with no small amount of confusion. I rolled my eyes when I realized (then remembered) that he needed a handkerchief for his "allergies".

"Here," Bofur ripped of a piece of his shirt, "use this." Bilbo pinched it between his fingers in disgust, and I chuckled along with the others.

Thorin gave a silent sigh from behind me before commanding, "Move on."

I started falling back, and when he noticed my absence looked down. I made eye contact with him, and grinned excitedly, "This is gonna be so much fun."

* * *

 **AN: Got some bonding time with my OC and Thorin. So how'd the chapter turn out? Good? Bad?**


	14. Story Time

Most of my time traveling with the company was spent riding behind Gandalf on the back of his horse. The rest of the time I would insist on walking. I was so used to running in my animal forms that I quickly grew restless just from sitting on a horse for hours on end.

When I wasn't riding with Gandalf I would walk alongside various members of the Company. Most of the time it was spent in silence, but other times I would talk with whoever I was walking beside.

Fíli and Kíli were of the few dwarves who enjoyed talking with me. They'd share their experiences growing up. They reminded me so much of Elladan and Elrohir it sent a pang through my chest. I hadn't seen them since the day I left Rivendell all those years ago when I was trying to cope with Thráins death.

When they were telling me these stories it slipped that their father died when Kíli was just a babe. Apparently he was a merchant, and on one of his trading expedition his group was ambushed by orcs, leaving no survivors. After his death Thorin took a much more active role in their lives. This made a special bond form between the three of them.

The topic left behind a depressing air, and the only way I could think to get rid of it was to share one of my own mischievous acts I played years ago.

"This was many years ago," I commented to the boys. They had their ponies on either side of me, sandwiching me in, "I was traveling alone, my only companion being a horse I'd named Captain, when I ended up traveling through Mirkwood.

"Now of course the tree-shag–I mean uh," I awkwardly coughed to cover up the insult I reserve for Mirkwood elves, but from the snickers coming from surrounding dwarves it didn't work, "the elves wouldn't just let we walk through, so a group of them took me into their home.

"I was immediately brought in front of Thranduil, and he demanded to know why I was trespassing through his kingdom. I was only around twenty years old at the time so his commanding tone really irritated me."

Fíli and Kíli laughed at this, and I smiled as I continued recounting the story, "I made him pretty angry–called him names, insulted his ruling and parenting. The last one was what made him lock me up in the dungeons."

Some older dwarves grew angry at this. Those bastards locked up a woman who was blessed by Mahal himself!

"I waited until midnight before escaping. I–I was able to squeeze through the cell bars and sneak through the halls."

"How could you sneak around elves?"

I looked up at Fíli, "I haven't told you? I was raised by elves." There were exclamations of shock and disgust, "Hey! Not _all_ elves are bad you know. Only Mirkwood." Everybody but Bilbo and Gandalf grumbled in disagreement. "Now where was I in my story?"

"You were sneaking out of your cell," Kíli told me helpfully.

"Yes! So I was sneaking around, and before I left I wanted to get back at Thranduil for what he did. It took me a while, but eventually I found what must have been his room. For whatever reason he hadn't been in his bed. Maybe he was in the bathroom, I'll never know. What I do know is that I saw his crown set up on his bedside table. Without a second thought I took it, and fled from Mirkwood as fast as I could."

"You stole his crown?" Kíli asked excitedly.

"And got away with it?" Fíli tacked on.

"Yup," opening my pack I reached in and pulled out the crown with a proud flourish. It was made out of sticks and leaves, but it was absolutely gorgeous. "This is it."

All of the dwarves shifted in their seats to look. Thorin glanced back curiously, but I didn't see it.

"You were telling the truth!"

I looked back at Ori with an indignant impression, "You thought I was making it all up?"

He sheepishly scratched the back of his head, and Fíli was the one to answer my question, "We all thought that."

Kíli laughed when I hit his brother upside the head, but stopped when I hit him too. "And here I was gonna let you try it on." They immediately started stuttering apologies, and I laughed, "Lean down."

Kíli leaned as far as he could without falling over, and I cautiously placed the elvish crown upon his head. The ends sat on his cheekbones like it did with Thranduil. "How do I look?"

"Ladies and gentleman!" Fíli gestured to his brother, "Kíli, king of the idiots!"

"Hey!" On instinct I ducked. It was a good thing too because Kíli drew up his foot to kick his brother in the leg.

"Watch it Kíli! You almost hit Amber!"

Kíli cringed, "Sorry, Amber."

I stood back up and jogged to retake my place in-between them, "It's alright. You've already shot me with an arrow, so what's a kick?"

"I said I was sorry!" Kilí sounded exasperated.

"And I forgive you." I sent him a mischievous smile, "Doesn't mean I won't hold it against you." Kíli pouted while his brother laughed at him.

A strong voice sounded from up ahead, "We will make camp here for tonight!"

Glancing around showed that we would be camping on a large outcrop. One side was the rocky face of the mountain we were climbing up, and the other side was a drop off. There were a few trees, but otherwise it was perfect to fit all of us and the ponies.

The dwarves dismounted from their ponies, and I took back the elvish crown before helping Fíli and Kíli unsaddle their mounts. After that I helped Bofur start up the fire. We set it up near the indent in the wall of rock. Bombur was in charge of making dinner, like he was every night, and everyone else was left to find where they would be sleeping for the night and lay out their bedroll.

I had no such comforts. The only padding I had between me and the ground was my leather cloak with warg fur stitched onto one side. I didn't own a bedroll because it took up too much space in my bag, and I always slept in an animal form.

With thirteen dwarves, a hobbit, and a wizard all lying out next to each other I moved to settle on the outskirts of the group. It was much more open, and sitting at the very edge of the rock formation gave me a very lovely view of the valley below us.

One dwarf, however, didn't see it this way.

"What are you doing over here?"

The rough, borderline impatient voice caused me to look up from my inspection of the nature spread out before me. "You made noise this time." I had heard him walking towards me.

Thorin only grunted his acknowledgement, clearly waiting for my answer to his previous question.

"If you must know," I looked back out at the forests below, "I came over here because there seemed to be very little room over there." I jerked my head to all of the other dwarves.

"Be that as it may, there is no need for you to have come all the way over here for the night." He looked around and finally seemed to notice something, "Where is your bedroll?"

I smiled without any real feeling behind it, "Never needed one."

His brows rose the smallest amount, "By the stories I've heard today you've been traveling since you were a young lass. I find it hard to believe you don't have a bedroll."

I only shrugged, "Believe what you will."

He turned away from me and started walking back towards the camp. I could feel an emptiness fill me from the loss of his presence, and before I could make heads or tails of the odd reaction his heavy footsteps were coming back towards me.

"Here," something was slapped against my chest, "take this."

I took the round object in my hands and looked down at it, "What…?" I turned my grey eyes onto his blue, "Is this a bedroll?" Thorin said nothing. Instead he turned away from me and walked over to sit on some boulders jutting out from the mountainside.

Huffing in disbelief I looked at the rolled up material in my hands, "That bastard." My insult put a smile on my lips.

At dinner I sat near everybody else. As usual Bilbo and I complimented his cooking. We were the only ones to ever do it, and it made Bilbo huff angrily. Though he never did it where the dwarves could hear him. It was when the two of us would be sent off to collect fire wood. That was when the hobbit had all the freedom in the world to let out his frustrations.

Later that night, when everybody was settling down in their bedrolls, I heard someone walking around. Twisting onto my stomach I placed my hands beneath my chin and looked to see Bilbo feeding his pony, Myrtle, an apple. The sight had me smiling.

The smile immediately dropped when an unmistakable shriek is heard too close for comfort. I immediately escaped form the bedroll and picked up my sword from where it was lying beside me.

Fíli and Kíli were sitting by the fire. Bilbo looked over at them and pointed in the direction behind him, "What was that?"

Kíli looked off, "Orcs."

Bilbo scampered closer at the possibility of orcs being nearby, "Orcs?"

"Throat cutters," Fíli added. "There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them."

Bilbo looked from the boys to the open area passed the drop-off. His mouth was open, and his eyebrows drawn with worry. My own eyes were scanning every surface I could find, but the only signs of orcs were their screeches.

"They strike, in the wee small hours of the night, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet–no screams. Just lots of blood." Once bilbo looked away from them again, Fíli and Kilí glanced at each other before chuckling.

I muttered under my breath, "Idiots."

Thorin wasn't as quiet with his reprimand, "You think that's funny?" He walked away from the rock he had been dozing on, having startled awake by the sound of orcs and his nephews voices. "You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?"

"We didn't mean anything by it," Kíli looked down, now knowing what they did was wrong.

"No you didn't," Thorin walked passed Bilbo and all of the other dwarves, "You know nothing of the world."

Balin walked from his bedroll to liven the disheartened boys, "Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs."

The boys looked over to where Thorin had walked off to. I looked as well and saw him staking up at the moon in a regal stance. Despite the distance I had no doubt he could hear what Balin was saying.

"After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first."

I saw memories flash in front of my eyes. Images of disfigured creatures coming at me with swords, only for me to rip them apart.

"Moria had been taken by legions of orcs, led by the most vile of all their race, Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began…by beheading the king," Balin swallowed at the memory of what happened that day.

My jaw clenched. I had watched as the dwarf King faced the pale orc, and be slain moments later.

"Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief, he went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we did not know." Hearing his name made my eyes glisten with tears, but I forced them not to fall. "We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us."

There was a brief pause before Balin's hushed voice continued the story, "That is when, I saw him," Balin smiled and looked over to where Thorin was standing. "A young dwarf prince, facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe. His armor rent, wielding nothing but an oaken branch.

"Azog had lifted his arm to deal the killing blow, when out of nowhere, a white bear latched onto his arm." My eyes snapped towards Balin. I had a vague memory of this story, and I knew for a fact that I had not been a part of it. "She used her weight against Azog to send him flying back."

By now everybody was awake, and they were listening to the story intently. "The bear faced Azog without fear," I internally snorted. I had been very scared that day, "and Azog faced her with intrigue. They both had pale hides, and Azog thought this would bring her onto his side.

"We had worried that she would join him, but it was for nothing. She atracked him ferociously, and in return Azog brought down his mace. Thorin was in time to block the blow, and the white bear pushed Thorin out of the way to bat the weapon away as if it were nothing.

"When Azog brought his mace down for the third time, Thorin brought up his sword, and severed the Pale Orc's arm. It was that day that Azog the Defiler learned the line of Durin would not be so easily broken.

"Our forces rallied, now joined by this mysterious white bear. Together we drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated…but there was no feast," Balin gazed at the fire as he shook his head, "nor song that night. For our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few, had survived.

"And I thought to myself then…there is one I could follow…there is one, I could call king."

Thorin turned around, and his eyes raised from the ground to see everybody was now standing up. They were looking at him in varying levels of respect and awe. He nodded in acknowledgement, and his head turned ever-so-slightly to gauge my reaction. What he saw surprised him.

When he turned around I had lowered myself onto one knee. I stuck my sword in the ground, but kept my hand on its handle. My head was bowed, but only slightly. When I saw him glance over I bowed it a little deeper before raising it. I only stood back up when he nodded to me.

Thorin started walking back towards the Company, and Bilbo looked over at me, "Amber," I returned his gaze, "didn't you say Azog killed Thráin."

All movement in the campsite stopped.

Thráin's death was one of the few things I told Bilbo about. I didn't tell him exactly how or when it happened, just that it did. I inhaled a shaky breath before answering, "He did."

Thorin spun to look at me, "That's impossible. Azog died of his injuries."

Tears once again threatened to fall from my eyes. "Oh how I wish that were true," my voice was nothing but a whisper, yet everybody seemed to have heard it.

"You are lying. You said you traveled with my father," Thorin was insistent.

"And I did."

Balin was able to see how this conversation was beginning to affect me, "Why don't we let Lady Amber tell us her story?"

I looked up at him gratefully, but I was also seeking reassurance. I'd never told anybody about my full time with Thráin. Only a few things to Bilbo.

When Balin nodded I took a deep breath, readying myself for the feelings that would no doubt show themselves, "When I first met Thráin I had been traveling in Mirkwood. I stumbled across an old fortress that screamed darkness, but something inside of me pushed me forward.

"I cautiously followed my instincts, and examined what is known as Dol Guldur. It gave me a bad vibe, and I was more than ready to leave when I heard something. I didn't know what it was until it attacked me," in remembrance I raised my hand to my neck where Thráin's bite mark had scarred me.

"When I saw what it was I thought he was just an old man, but I was wrong. It was Thráin. The great dwarves king had been driven into madness in that fortress. He wanted to eat me," the comment was offhanded, but I wanted to convey just how far gone he was. I knew they understood when some of them furrowed their eyebrows and others made declarations of surprise and disgust.

"I was ready to kill him, but something…changed. His crazed eyes widened in terror when a gust of wind blew passed us. I could have sworn I heard whispers as well, but I'll never be sure," Gandalf's eyes widened.

"When I looked to see what frightened him I found a mass of black floating down the corridor," all of the dwarves gripped onto their weapons, not liking where this story was headed. "It instilled so much terror in me, and I have no idea why. All I could do was grab onto Thráin and make a run for it.

"The dark presence didn't follow us, thankfully," the dwarves relaxed at this, "but Thráin was still incoherent. He couldn't speak at all, but I eventually got him to tell me his name. That was how I figured out just who he was.

"Naturally I wanted him to get better, so I took him to the only place I knew could us refuge: Lothlórien," the dwarves all muttered in disapproval at this, but I ignored them. "In the end I thought wrong because he did not like being there at. All. Thankfully the elves allowed us to stay for the night, but we had to leave the next morning.

"My next destination was Rivendell," more angry mutterings. "He didn't want to go there either, but I didn't give him a choice.

"I was good friends with Lord Elrond's sons," I felt a pang at the thought of the twins. "I hoped Elrond could give Thráin the treatment he needed to become sane again."

I took a deep breath before continuing, "It was five years before Thráin could be considered better. Even then he was prone to fits of madness." The dwarves all sucked in a breath at this. The almighty Thráin brought down to such a level was excruciating to hear.

"But he was fine most of the time," memories of happier times made me smile. "Sane enough to get mad at me when I spoke Sindarin."

"You speak the elf tongue?" Dwalin's rough voice demanded.

I nodded, "I do. Thráin hadn't been too thrilled with it either, so he taught me Khuzdul."

There were shocked mutters. Thorin remembered our time in Bilbo's smial when I called him "king" in his people's secret language.

"After he taught me Khuzdul was when Thráin wanted to leave Rivendell. I had no objections, so the two of us left on a journey to Ered Luin on a search for his family," at this I looked up at Thorin and his nephews. "We were near the mountain when Thráin fell into another one of his fits of madness. I hadn't wanted his people to see him in such a state, so I ran."

Thorin stepped forward angrily, "You had no right to do that."

"I know," I nodded in agreement. "Thráin had been angry as well. So angry that he spiraled back into his state of madness. After that was when he broke down. He told me he was sorry, and that I was right to keep him from his home. He realized he could go mad any minute, and he was unfit to reclaim his throne.

"So we traveled the wilds. Ignoring the dwarfish cities, and barely touching the men's. We even met your mother when she was young," I nodded at Bilbo.

"My mother?"

"Aye. She was such a curious thing. She knew we were traveling and asked if she could come with us. Her parents said it was fine, so we brought her to Rivendell for awhile." Bilbo took the new information about his mother gratefully.

My smile at the memory of Belladonna faded when I remembered what happened next. "After the Shire, Thráin and I traveled south." From the hush my voice has taken the dwarves knew the worst part of my story was approaching. "We set up camp one night. Everything was fine, nothing unusual. Thráin had fallen asleep and the fire was dying.

"Our vulnerability was when the orcs crashed through the trees in an ambush. Thráin immediately woke up, and the two of us fought against the onslaught fairly well. There were only seven left when three lunged at me. They caught me by surprise, and that was when they held me down.

"The other four held down Thráin," my voice stopped, and I found I physically couldn't continue. I lost the battle against my tears, and soon they were sliding down my cheeks one by one.

"It's alright Lassie," Bofur took a nervous step, "we don't need to hear the rest."

I swallowed several times, and had to clear my throat to finally get rid of the lump that had formed there. "No," my voice was hoarse with emotion, "I need to talk about this. And you all deserve to know."

With a deep breath I forced myself to continue, "The orcs were holding us down when a pale orc stepped out from the tree line. He was riding on the back of a white warg." Angry snarls came from the dwarves when they recognized who I was talking about.

"He was missing his left arm," I nodded at Thorin in acknowledgment to what he's done. "Instead there was a metal pronged rod stabbed through it." Ori winced at the image of pain that presented.

"Azog took his time insulting the two of us. But that didn't last long," my tears were falling more quickly now. "He stood over Thráin and told him how he'd been hunting him. That he'd beheaded his father, and that h–" my voice once again got caught in my throat.

At this point I could no longer look at the dwarves, so I spun around and took out the star-filled vial from beneath my shirt to grasp onto. "That he was going to cut out his heart."

Curses were being yelled in Khuzdul, and I heard another voice, this one Gloin, "You don't have to continue Lady Amber–"

"No!" My shout silenced them all, and I took a deep breath in a attempt to calm my nerves. "No. I need to do this." I hadn't opened up to anybody about what happened that night, and now that I started I needed to finish.

"Azog took his sword," I swallowed, "and sunk it into Thráins chest. He began carving in a circular shape. I just couldn't take what was playing out before me, and I somehow pushed off the orcs that were holding me down and barreled towards Azog. I would have gladly killed him, but his warg pushed me away. I had to fight the beast off before I could go back for Azog.

"Killing the white warg didn't bring me any satisfaction, and when I looked over I saw Azog glaring at me in hatred. The grin I gave him was the last genuine smile I've given for years. My actions may also have been the reason he swore to behead me before he disappeared into the forest with his men."

The end of my story was met with silence. By now I had a steady stream of tears making their way down my face.

"Amber…?" Bilbo's voice was quiet, but from the silence of everybody else I could hear him clearly.

"His death is my fault," I breathed.

"Now wait just a minute, Miss Amber," Balin refuted, "What happened to Thráin was no fault of yours."

"Yes it was!" I whirled around to face them, "I could have fought better! Broken free sooner! Instead I only watched as that bastard," I spat the word with enough venom to melt steel, "killed the only father I had in years!"

The dwarves grew even sadder upon hearing this. They remembered quite well how I told them I'd been taken from my home. Losing one father was bad enough, but I lost two.

"What did you do then?" Kíli asked quietly.

"I took him to Rivendell. It was the only thing I could think of doing. I only took his beads because he…" I choked, "…he told me it was his dying wish for me to take them." I laughed a little hysterically, "So you know what his very last words to me were?" The question was obviously rhetorical, so the dwarves didn't answer. "He said 'I love you, daughter'."

The older dwarves all shared a look. That, accompanied by the giving of his family beads, was a big deal.

I laughed some more, but it faded into small sobs. None of the dwarves dared approach me during this. Instead we all stood there until my crying ceased, and I spoke back up, "I didn't know what to do with myself after that. I'd been traveling with Thráin for years. It was…horrible, having to travel alone. His gruff voice no longer there to talk with me.

"It was mind numbing," I whispered. "More than once I wanted the feeling to go away. Maybe a quick slice of my sword, or a small stumble off of a cliff," as I said this I took a small step towards the edge of the outcrop. "Any of those things would have taken the pain away. Forever."

My words made the others start internally panicking. They shared looks amongst each other, but none knew what to do. I always looked so happy and carefree. There was a darkness hidden behind my eyes, sure, but they didn't know bad it was.

I turned my head to the side so the dwarves would hear me over my shoulder, "There were a few times I'd attacked groups of orcs and wards in the hopes it would end my suffering, but I came out alright in the end." I was steadily growing closer to the edge of the drop-off.

"Lady Amber I must ask you to stop moving."

Blinking through my tears I blankly looked over at Gandalf, "Why?" Even though I asked I stopped moving.

"Because killing yourself is never the answer."

I smiled slightly, but my lips were trembling, "Oh I know, and I knew back then too. Didn't stop me from wanting to do it. I only held back because of you guys."

They all blinked in shock. Them? She hadn't known any of them before this journey started.

"I told you all that I was kidnapped for a reason," they dwarves all nodded while Gandalf and Bilbo seemed confused. I had mentioned being kidnapped before, but I hadn't said anything to them about it. "Your quest was that reason."

"How would anyone have known of this quest?" Thorin demanded. His voice was harsh, but only those closest to him knew it was because of his emotions.

"Eru was the one who kidnapped me. He told me I was to help you in your quest. Aulë came in during our little meeting and gave me the braid," I flicked said braid for emphasis.

Everybody obviously had more questions about that, but they also didn't want to push because they could see how badly this conversation has taken its toll for me. "I think," Gandalf commented, "that it's time to get some rest."

With a grateful nod I headed towards my bedroll. I tucked the star-filled vial and Thráins ring back underneath my shirt, and got ready to go to bed.

"Amber!" I looked up to see Kilí waving at me, "Come join us over here!"

All the other dwarves were settling back into their beds, but I could tell they were listening. "Why?"

Him and his brother smiled softly, "Because there's plenty of room for you over here."

I huffed a small laugh, but didn't argue. My emotions were too drained for that, "You just don't want me so close to the edge of the cliff."

Fíli opened his mouth to object, but Kíli beat him to it, "Yeah."

Fíli turned on his brother for being so callous, when he saw the genuine smile light up my face. All the dwarves remembered me saying I haven't smiled for years. They'd seen me do it a few times before, but they hardly ever reached my eyes. They all made it a personal goal to make me smile every single day.

Taking the bedroll Thorin gave me I spread it out in-between the brothers. The three of us laid down for the night, and I heard everybody fall asleep one by one. Soon enough I fell asleep as well, and it was the most restful sleep I'd had since Thráin was killed.

* * *

 **AN: Its been awhile!**


	15. Dangerous Waters

**Khuzdul**

* * *

The journey was slow going after my confession on the outcrop. The dwarves kept a constant watch on me–something they thought I wouldn't notice. I almost didn't with the amount of rain we've had. It was coming down in sheets for several days straight.

The amount of rain made traveling difficult. The ponies were slower, our food had to be protected, we got soaked even with our cloaks on. Bilbo didn't even have his cloak. The muddy ground made camping difficult, and we had to go on with bread and cold meats and cheeses since we couldn't build a decent fire.

Thankfully my leather cloak protected me fairly well from the onslaught of rain. Gandalf was steering the horse so his body was able to protect my front from getting wet.

It was about mid-afternoon when Dori broke the silence surrounding our soaked group, "Here, Mr. Gandalf? Can't you do something about this deluge?"

Gandalf turned slightly in his seat to shout back, "It is raining master dwarf! And it will continue to rain until the rain is done!" From my place behind him I could see the slight roll of his eyes. Gandalf heard my chuckles and sent me a slight wink. "If you wish to change the weather of the world you should find yourself another wizard."

Bilbo spoke up from behind us, "Are there any?"

"What?"

"Other wizards?"

"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, The White," hearing the name sparked a fuzzy memory of an elderly man dressed all in white. It also had an ugly feeling curl in my gut. "Then there are the two blue wizards…do you know, I've quite forgotten their names?" I smirked lightly to myself. It seems Gandalf's memory was being affected by his old age.

"And who was the fifth?" Bilbo inquired.

"That would be Radagast, The Brown," just saying the name brought a fond smile to Gandalf's face. They must have been fairly close.

Bilbo asked again, "Is he a great wizard or is he…more like you?" The question amused everybody, but I was the only one to really laugh.

Gandalf turned in the saddle, careful not to knock me off, "I think he was a very great wizard, in his own way."

That made me snort, "So he's crazy?"

I was ignored. "He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others." He sounded like my kind of wizard. Animals were much easier to get along with–for me anyway. "He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always evil will look to find a foothold in this world."

The conversation ended at that, and the only sounds were the pony's hooves being sucked in and out of the mud, and low murmurs occasionally exchanged between the dwarves.

Much to everyone's relief the rain slowly started to let up until it stopped all together. When Thorin called for a quick lunch nobody had to bend over their food to prevent it from getting wet. Bilbo, Gandalf, and I didn't have to shove our food into our mouth to eat faster, though the dwarves have always had that habit.

Getting back on the road was an un-rushed task. We were all enjoying the afternoon sunlight while it lasted.

The only downside for me was the fact that the ground was still very wet and muddy. I continued to ride behind Gandalf on his horse instead of walking beside Fíli and Kíli, or even Orí. It's been about a week since I was last able to chat with the troublesome brothers, or talk to Orí about what he likes to write and the different types of knitting needles.

The downside that was presented to the entire group was when we came across a large river. According to Gandalf the river shouldn't have been a river at all, just a small stream. The week long downpour had risen the level of water to a rather dangerous level. Just down stream was a steep drop that was now very much a waterfall. If we weren't careful then the rapid current would drag us down.

Without much of an option Gandalf urged the horse forward, and the dwarves were forced to follow. Since we were on a horse the level of water just barely touched our feet, but pony's were much shorter. The dwarves were forced to endure the cold water that filled their boots. Poor Bilbo was shaking from the cold.

Because Gandalf and I were in the front of the line and already almost out of the river, we did not see what happened. What let us know something was wrong was when loud yells echoed in the air. They were not the happy yells I usually heard from the rambunctious group, but panicked ones.

Turning my body as far as it could go I realized one of the ponies must have lost its footing and went tumbling down the river–along with its rider. The supply pony was neighing with distress, but my eyes were focused on the struggling dwarf that had been thrown from the saddle.

"Kíli," his name was nothing but a whisper from my lips as I watched him get pulled further down the river. Fíli was watching his brother with a horror that was mirrored in Thorins own gaze.

"NO!" Fíli jumped out of his own saddle–much to the others protests–and started paddling towards his brother. When they reached each other they grasped arms and attempted to plant their feet at the bottom of the water to stop themselves. Only to find that they couldn't.

Further and further they were dragged down the river by the strong rapids. Their shouts were sometimes cut out from water splashing into their mouths, and completely drowned out by Thorins panicked yelling.

My eyes glazed over as I watched this all play out before me. Images of Thráin being stabbed by Azog, and later of me kneeling over him as the light drained from his eyes. A member of the Durin family I was supposed to protect. A father figure that I failed.

Without realizing it I had slipped from the saddle and splashed onto the riverbank. My legs had a mind of their own as I ran along the river with my eyes zoned in on the two struggling boys. Sounds were only a distant roar to my ears as adrenaline pumped through my body.

Closer and closer they made it to the drop-off waterfall. I didn't know how far down the drop was, but that didn't matter. The amount of water could make them drown once they fell down their. They could also end up breaking their neck or spine if the water was too shallow down there.

I ran fast enough to pass where the boys were. I continued until I decided I was at a decent distance before running into the water. The cold temperature didn't register anywhere on my body, and the only thing I focused on was to intercept the boys before they fell to what could become a watery death.

"Fíli! Kíli!" The two boys whipped their heads around when they heard me shout their names. I was much closer to them then the others, who were now all safely on the opposite side of the river but shouting at the three of us. What they were saying I couldn't make out.

It was obvious that the both of them were exhausted. The water came up to about their chest, but without the proper footing it easily reached their necks. For me it was only up to my torso, but the current was so strong it was slow going for me to get to them.

With our efforts we were able to reach each other, but the combined weight of two dwarves had me sinking under the watering and losing my footing. The boys thought I would have been a sturdy object to hang on so when I went under we all did.

Breaking the surface with a gasp I tried to move the boys, "My back. Get on my back!" With their heads not always above the surface I had to yell this several times before the two of them got the message. Fíli was on my left shoulder while Kíli was on my right.

I let out a heavy breath, "Hold your breath and trust me." With a deep inhale I waited one last moment for the boys to copy my actions before I dove beneath the surface. I stopped fighting against the current and instead swam with it. The faster I swam the faster the edge of the waterfall came towards us. I made sure that my feet stayed near the bottom so that when we started dropping down I was able to push off for a little momentum.

Unknown to the three of us the rest of the group by the river were in a panic. Three of their members had just been dragged under and fell down a waterfall. Two of them were Thorins nephews! The little boys he had watched grow from dwarflings into young adults. He never should have let them come with.

The group was rushing to the edge of the falls to see if they could spot the trio at the bottom. There was a slight chance they lived, and an even smaller chance that they got through unharmed.

All motion stopped when the cry of an eagle pierced through the air. They looked around in confusion, wondering what could have made the loud jumped in surprise when a giant eagle broke from the waterfall and twisted in the air, spraying them with droplets of water.

The giant eagle angled down towards the group and glided gently over the water. It's large talons scraped the rapids before taking purchase in the soft dirt of the riverbank. The dwarves, wizard, and hobbit all turned to look at the eagle in amazement.

Gandalf had a smile on his face, "What is an Eagle of Manwë doing here?"

A voice came from behind the eagle, "Well if you must know," a familiar head of dark hair poked out from behind its shoulder, "she saved our lives." A blonde head appeared at her other shoulder, "Quite amazing really, though the twist made me a little air sick."

They watched in amazement as the eagle rolled her eyes and drooped her shoulders in a sigh. Her wing then stretched out so the two dwarves could slide off of her back.

Thorin pushed his way forward and embraced his nephews, "Don't ever do that again."

Fíli and Kíli didn't hesitate to hug back and unanimously promise, "We won't."

"Um," Bilbo cleared his throat and shifted nervously when everyone looked at him, "where's Amber?"

The dwarves all straightened at the girls name, remembering that she had fallen too, but Fíli and Kíli laughed and pointed at the eagle, "She's right there!"

Everyone followed their fingers to look at the giant eagle that was, in fact, me. Their eyes widened as I slowly changed my form. My wings shortened into arms, my feathers shrunk and disappeared, my claws went back to legs and feet, and my beak changed back into a human nose and mouth.

I looked from one dwarf to another until my eyes locked with Thorins, "I'm afraid I don't know what happened to the pony. I could go look for her if you wish."

His emotions were hidden behind a blank mask, "You did not tell me you could turn into one of Manwë's eagles."

"Oh no uncle," Kíli stepped up to his side while Fíli took the other, "she can turn into more than just an eagle."

"Yeah. Kíli shot her when she was parading as a deer." Kíli and I both shouted "Hey!" indignantly.

"I didn't exactly plan on being shot you know," I put my hands on my hips. "If I'd have known it would get shot I wouldn't have been a deer."

"And it's not like I knew it was Amber," Kíli defended himself.

Thorin held up a hand that silenced all of us, "What exactly can you do?"

I could tell he was growing impatient, "I can turn into any animal I've ever seen. It's how I travelled around Middle Earth with Thráin." Saying his name sent a pain through my chest, but it wasn't as sharp as it used to be.

"And you didn't think this information would be good for us to know?"

My mouth opened and closed several times before I answered honestly, "No. I don't see how you could have much use of an extra horse, and I can't fly all fifteen of you to the mountain. Plus I wasn't sure how all of you would react, so when I told you my stories I modified them a little to edit out the parts where I become an animal."

Fíli and Kíli were horrified to hear that, "Which parts?!"

"Like when I escaped Thranduil's dungeon I just turned into a bird and flew out."

"What else have you lied about?" Thorin demanded.

"Nothing I swear! **I swear on my mother's grave!** "

All of the dwarves raised a brow in surprise at my use of Khuzdul. They knew I could speak it because I told them, but it was different to actually hear it.

"Well," Gandalf hopped back into his horse, "we best be off! The longer we wait the less light we'll have for traveling." The dwarves started muttering and moved only after Thorin did.

"My dear," I looked up at Gandalf, "are you riding with me again?"

I smiled excitedly, "I'm afraid I won't be riding with anybody." Taking a step back I allowed my body to change its shape into that of a horses. It felt so good to have four legs underneath me instead of two that I neighed in delight.

"Lady Amber!" I tossed my head to look at Kíli, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ride with you." He sent me a cheeky smile, "I seem to have lost my pony."

The group all glanced over to see what I would do and watched as I changed back into a human. They were surprised to see the apprehensive look on my face, "I've only ever let one dwarf ride on my back Master Durin. I'm not completely sure how I would feel with another one."

Everybody grew silent at my answer. They knew I was talking about Thráin, and nobody was sure what to say next.

Thorin took care of that, "Figure out what you're going to do then Kíli. We need to move on." He urged his pony onwards and forced everybody to follow after him.

Feeling a little bad for putting Kíli on the spot like that I walked over to him and crouched, "I haven't done this for several years. You'll have to forgive me if I get tired." My body morphed into the form of a pony. It was odd because I've never needed to be a pony before, only a horse. I decided it was much better to be a horse than a short and stocky pony.

Kíli hesitantly gripped my mane and hauled himself onto my back. He situated his legs over my shoulders and cleared his throat, "Are you sure about this?"

My only response was a snort and a few hesitant steps forward to get used to the extra weight. Fíli had his pony waiting for the two of us, so when I made it next to him he urged his pony to walk beside me. "I didn't know you had it in you, Kee."

I couldn't see them, but I imagined Kíli sent his brother a confused look, "Had what in me?"

"The guts to ride a girl."

Some sort of a struggle took place between the two of them and I snorted irritably. Without a second thought I changed into the larger form of a horse, scaring both boys. Unfortunately for Fíli I was irritated with him for including me in his little joke. Despite the fact he was only teasing I still rounded on him and neighed directly in his face.

My actions startled him so bad he fell right out of his saddle. Some of the dwarves must have seen or heard what happened because their laughter could be heard from their place ahead of us.


	16. Trolls!

Conversation between the group had stopped now that all of their attention was focused on me. They wanted to know what kind of animals I could turn into. Fíli and Kíli told them bout my ability to become a deer and lion, now they've all seen me as a pony, horse, and eagle.

As a horse I was unable to verbally answer their questions, so when they shouted out an animal I would nod my head up and down for yes and shake it for no. I would've turned into the animal as an answer, but I didn't want to dislodge Kíli.

The sun was still high in the sky when Thorin halted our group on a rocky hillside occupied by a decimated farm. Fíli and Kíli were given the task of watching after the ponies.

Kíli slid off of my back with a groan, "You need a saddle."

With a snort I changed back to my human self, "If it bothers you so much then ride with your brother."

Fíli walked by leading two ponies in each hand, "Not enough room in the saddle I'm afraid. Looks like you're stuck together."

I helped them bring the ponies away from the group and we began unsaddling them, "I can't talk to the others when I'm a horse."

Fíli smiled cheekily, "That's why everybody likes you better in the form."

"Oi!" With nothing to throw at him I shifted into a German Shepard and pounced on the blonde dwarf. Kílil laughed at the two of us wrestling on the grass, disturbing the ponies with out roughhousing.

My name was suddenly called from somewhere at the camp and I straightened up with my ears pricked forward. Fíli took the moment in time to run their fingers through my fur, "What kind of dog is this?"

Shifting back I straightened out my clothes, "It's called a German Shepard. Do they not exist here either?" The question was rhetorical so I didn't wait to see what their answer would be.

When I made it back up to the camp I saw Thorin and Gandalf talking with one another in the broken house while Óin and Gloin prepared a fire. "Is there anything you need help with, Bombur?"

The large dwarf gave me a smile, "A little help peeling the potato's."

Taking a potato and a dagger to peel it with I began the task. Preparing food like this was never something Thráin or I did. I always just hunted for a deer and we would skin that before roasting the meat over the fire. That was a little ore exciting than potato peeling, but with Bombur cooking I was sure it would taste spectacular.

I looked up at the sound of Bilbo's voice, "Everything alright? Gandalf, where are you going?"

Gandalf brushed passed with barely a glance in our direction, "To seek the company of the only around here who got any sense."

"And who's that?"

"Myself, Master Baggins!" Gandalf's loud tone startled all of us. "I've had enough of dwarves for one day."

Thorin watched Gandalf from his position at the farm, "Come on Bombur, Amber, we're hungry."

I continued to peel the last potato as Bilbo worried to Balin, "Is he coming back?" Balin didn't answer, and the two of them looked off in the direction Gandalf stormed off in.

Later that night Gandalf had yet to make his appearance. Bilbo brought it up with Bofur when I came to return my bowl. The stew was delicious as always.

"He's been a long time." Bilbo walked up to Bofur, who was standing near the pot of food.

"Who?"

"Gandalf."

"He's a wizard! He does as he chooses. Here," Bofur handed two bowls filled with the stew to Bilbo, "Do us a favor, take these to the lads."

Bilbo took the bowls without complaint and I spoke up, "Want some help?"

He nodded to me gratefully and we began walking away from the camp to where the ponies were grazing. Fíli and Kíli didnt notice our presence when we walked up. Not even when Bilbo walked between them and held the bowls to their chests. He looked at the boys, "What's the matter?"

I stood on Kíli's other side. "We're supposed to be looking after the ponies."

Fíli spoke next, "Lmly we've encountered a…slight problem."

"We had fifteen when we got here."

"Now there's, thirteen."

Something about this situation was nagging at me. It was familiar to the point where I knew it was a part of the movie, but I just couldn't remember what happened.

The four of us suddenly split up to walk around the ponies. We counted off each one in our head until coming back together with Kíli informing us, "Daisy and Bungo are missing."

"Well that's, not good," Bilbo laughed nervously and gestured to an uprooted tree, " and that is definitely not good at all. Shouldn't we tell Thorin?"

I bit my lip apprehensively while Fíli answered, "Uh, no. Best not worry him." That had me snorting quietly. _More like anger him_. "As our official burglar we thought you might like to look into it."

"Well uh," Bilbo looked between the two dwarves before gesturing to the fallen tree, soup bowls still in hand, "it looks like something big uprooted these trees–"

"–that was our thinking–"

"–and possibly, quite dangerous."

Fíli got our attention, "Hey," he crouched down, "there's a light." Motioning for Kíli and I to follow the four of us scurried forward and hid behind a tree trunk that had fallen some years ago.

Strange noises, accompanied by laughter, emanated from the area where the fire was. Bilbo quietly asked what it was and Kíli answered in disgust, "Trolls." He and his brother hopped over the trunk and I followed diligently.

Roots of a tree provided cover for the three of us when a large creature suddenly trampled its way through the brush. The troll had a struggling pony under each arm.

Bilbo noticed this, "He's got Myrtle and Minty!" He crouched closer, "I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something."

The three of us looked over at him and slightly nodded, "Yes," Kíli stood up, "you should." He pushed Bilbo in between him and his brother while I stood a little behind them, "Mountain trolls are slow and stupid. You're so small they'll never see you!"

We ignored his denials and the boys took the bowls from his hands. Kíli assured him he would be perfectly safe while Fíli pushed him forward, "We'll be right behind you. If you run into trouble, hoot once like a brown owl, and twice like a barn owl."

Bilbo was mumbling to himself while the two boys slunk back. They brushed my shoulders so I would look at them, and at their questioning look I shook my head. The shrugged before running back in the direction of the camp.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I looked at Bilbo and shrugged when he realized the boys abandoned us.

A gruff voice sounded from ahead of us and we both crouched down, "Mutton yesterday. Mutton today. And blimey, if it doesn't look like mutton again tomorrow."

I trailed behind Bilbo as he approached the troll camp. Four of our ponies had been placed in a roped off area to the side, preventing their escape. With my weapons back at the camp we had nothing to cut the ropes with.

The troll in the middle suddenly sneeze, making me jump. I wrinkled my nose at it while the troll whose been stirring the pot stood up and happily exclaimed, "Well that's lovely, that is. A floater!" The other one was just as happy, "Oh! Might improve the flavor!"

The troll who sneezed was rather proud of himself, "Oh, there's more where that came from!" Hearing him snort back made me gag a little, and I was grateful for the other troll grabbing his nose to stop him, "Oh no you don't!"

I looked over at Bilbo to see if he was near the ponies and gasped when one of the trolls looked over there. From my position behind a tree they were unable to see me, but Bilbo was basically out in the open. How the troll didn't see Bilbo I'll never know, but thankfully he didn't. Instead he got hit upside with the soup spoon and told to sit down.

When he was sure the trolls were occupied Bilbo continued to try and untie the robes confining the ponies. His struggles proved fruitless, and he looked back at me for help I couldn't give.

He struggled some more and I saw him look around before his eyes stopped on one of the trolls. Following his line of sight I realized he saw a large knife that was connected to the middle trolls belt.

I knew what he was planning to do and the whole thing screamed 'bad idea!'. This didn't see, to bother Bilbo because he stood up and slowly walked over to the trolls. Even though I knew he would be alright I still found it hard to watch him approach such a dangerous creature. Three of them actually.

The trolls didn't even notice his presence as they talked about random things. At one point a troll reached over and almost grabbed a kneeling Bilbo. I had to cover my mouth to prevent any distressed noises from escaping, and only relaxed when the hand missed Bilbo entirely.

Bilbo finally just made a run for it while the trolls were trying whatever concoction they brewed up, and safely made it behind the middle troll. He was making some sort of odd hand movements to measure the angle the giant knife was in, and it made me cover my face with my hands. The hobbit was giving me major anxiety.

The troll suddenly stood up to scratch his butt, and it made me want to laugh. I also felt a little grossed out for Bilbo's sake.

Bilbo made a final grab for the knife when the troll reached behind him. I watched in horror as the troll brought him up to his face, and it changed into one of disgust when he used Bilbo as his tissue.

Snot was all over Bilbo's body when the troll pulled back and I grimaced at the amount that was connected between his nose and Bilbo's clothes.

Seeing Bilbo in his hands made the troll's eyes widen, "Blimey! Bert! Bert, look what's come out of me hooter!" The other two trolls crowded around him to get a glimpse, "It's got arms, and legs, and everything!"

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but I don't like the way it wiggles around!" He threw Bilbo to the ground and he took the opportunity to run to the other side of their fire.

The largest of the trolls pointed a large, very sharp knife at Bilbo, "What are you? An over-sized squirrel?"

Bilbo stuttered, "I'm a burglar–ah, hobbit!"

I winced at the horrible cover-up, but the trolls didn't even notice, "A burglarobbit?"

"Can we cook him?"

"We can try!"

The three trolls all surrounded Bilbo. He tried to run away but one of them stopped him with a spoon to the chest, "He wouldn't make more than a mouthful. Not when he's skinned and boned!"

Another held a knife to his chest, "Are there any more burglarobbit' son these parts? Might be enough for a pie!" They all started swiping at Bilbo to try and pick him up. But he continued to dodge their grasps. One of the trolls even shouted, "He's too quick!", but just as Bilbo may have escaped he was grabbed by his legs, "Gotcha!"

The troll pointed his knife, "Are there any more of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?"

Loyal Bilbo immediately denied it, "No."

Of course they didn't believe him, "He's lying."

"No I'm not!"

"Hold his toes over the fire!" Hearing that made my breath hitch, and before the troll could say anything else I burst out of my hiding spot.

"Bilbo!" The four of them looked at me in surprise, and Bilbo in terror, "There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you!"

The troll holding Bilbo lowered his arm but didn't drop him, "Who are you?"

"Amber," I gave a little now and swallowed past the lump in my throat, "and you?"

He seemed surprised, "William."

"Well, Mr. William, if you could be so kind as to lower my friend. We're on our way to Rivendell you know."

One of the other trolls leaned forward and sniffed the air, "What are you?"

I acted affronted, "I'm a burglarobbit! Same as Bilbo."

William scoffed, "You're lying! You two ain't the same species."

"That's where you're wrong Mr. William. You see Bilbo is just a very young burglarobbit. Barely fifty. Majority isn't until one hundred years old."

"And how old are you?"

I raised a brow but answered anyway, "I'm one hundred and fifty six."

"That's a lie!" The large soup spoon was waved threateningly, "You're nothing but a human! Skin and bone you are."

"Can a human do this?" Leaning forward I felt the change go through my entire body until I was standing on all fours in the form of a white bear. From somewhere behind me I could have sworn somebody gasped, but I brushed it off as the wind.

The trolls all stepped back in shock, and William dropped Bilbo. He scurried over to me and grasped onto my white fur.

"What is that?"

Shifting back I stood a little bit in front of Bilbo, "It's called a polar bear where I come from. Burglarobbit's are very adept at turning into animals. Since Bilbo is so young he he can't do it yet, but I can."

The troll with the spoon leaned forward interestedly, "What kind of animals?"

"Any animal I've ever seen before."

"How about an oliphant?" The skinny troll asked, "I've always wanted to try one of those."

I got an idea, "How about this. I'll turn into whatever animal you want, as long as you give back our ponies."

I had a knife pointed at me, "You want us to lose our dinner for some entertainment? Do you take us for fools?!"

"No, no, not at all!" I held my hands up defensively. "I'm saying to eat me instead of the ponies. I could turn into whatever animal you want and you're set."

Bilbo's hands tightened in my shirt and he whispered for only me to hear, "Amber, no."

I reached back to pat his side but said nothing, "I could turn into another bear, or some type of bird. Maybe a wildcat. Have you ever had giraffe?"

Each animal I listed had the trolls looking hungrier and hungrier. Before I knew what was happening I was picked up by William and brought close to his face, "How do we know you won't just run away?"

"Well," I panted, "you could tie me up." Glancing down I sagged with relief when I realized Bilbo had run away. "That way I can't escape while you get all of your ingredients ready."

The next thing I knew I was being shoved into a smelly sack and I couldn't see what was going on. I could still hear what was going on and a sudden howl wrenched through the air. I panicked slightly since I didn't know what was happening. The panic vanished when I heard Kíli's voice, "Drop her."

"You what?"

"I said: drop her."

I suddenly felt myself sailing through the air before colliding with something hard. We were sent tumbling through the ground and I hear war cries pass above me. "You alright in there Amber?"

I scoffed at Kíli's question, "Just peachy."

All I got in return was a laugh before the boy joined the sound of fighting not that far away from me. Hearing the dwarves fight against the trolls and being unable to help was aggravating.

Pulling at the top of the sack wasn't working, so I changed into a mouse to slowly wiggle my body through the small opening. I noticed the commotion behind me suddenly come to a stop, but I paid no mind to it as I finally broke free from my confinement.

Staying in the form of a mouse I scurried over to hide behind a nearby tree before looking back. Two of the trolls had Bilbo in their grasp, "Lay down your arms, or well rip his off!"

Thorin paused for just a moment, looking right at Bilbo to see how scared he was, before sticking his sword in the ground. All of the dwarves saw this and grudgingly followed suit.

I turned back into a human and scoffed when the trolls made all of the dwarves strip down to their underwear. It was hard not to laugh at the picture they all presented, and winced in sympathy when the trolls put half of the group in sacks like mine. The other half was tied over their fire to be roasted.

One of the trolls finally noticed something, "Oi! Where's the burglarobbit?"

The skinny troll pointed at Bilbo, "E's right there!"

"No, no, the girly one!"

The dwarves all looked around and realized I was indeed missing. Relief was in some of their faces as that fact, and I smiled to know they actually cared about me.

For faster traveling I changed into a robin and flew towards our campsite. It was completely silent without anybody there to occupy it, and I looked around before strapping on my sword and slinging my bow and arrows over my shoulder.

"Lady Amber," I turned around in surprise to see Gandalf looking around the camp in confusion, "Do you happen to know where everybody ran off to?"

I huffed, "There are three trolls who've taken up camp not too far away. They took some of the ponies and retrieving them didn't quite go as planned."

Gandalf hummed, "No, I suppose they didn't. Lead the way."

Instead of walking straight for their camp I went in a bit of a circle so we could get behind them. The closer we got the louder their voices became, and I heard Bilbo tell the trolls they had to skin the dwarves.

I snorted, and Gandalf gave a little chuckle, "Smart lad to stall for time."

"What?" I made sure to keep my voice low.

"Sunrise will be upon us very soon. If the trolls are still out by then, they'll be turned to stone."

I made an interested noise in the back of my throat before stopping at the top of the rock that kept us hidden from view. "How's this?"

Gandalf looked at the still rising sun and nodded, "Perfect. Best step out of the way." I was ushered to stand a little to the side of the rock while Gandalf waited for the opportune moment.

We listened to Bilbo do his best to prevent the trolls from eating the dwarves. I tensed when Bombur was lifted up, and when Bilbo claimed that they were all infected with worms I very nearly burst out laughing. The dwarves didn't find it nearly as funny, throwing out insults and the like. Thorin had to kick Kíli before they all began exclaiming who had the most parasites in their tubes.

Unfortunately William seemed to be a rather smart troll and caught Bilbo in his lie. It didn't matter what he did next because Gandalf took his place at the top of the rock, "The dawn will take you all!"

The trolls looked up in confusion, "Who's that?"

"No idea."

"Can we eat him too?"

Gandalf raised his staff before bringing it dos onto the rock. It immediately split in half and he stepped to the side to allow the sunlight to shine onto the trolls. Their arms covered their faces as they howled in pain, and I watched in fascination as their skin slowly turned grey and hardened into stone. When they stopped moving everybody looked around before cheering happily.

I climbed out from behind the stone with a happy smile on my face. It lessened slightly when I wondered how to get the dwarves off of the fire pit.

"Lady Amber!" I looked over at a smiling Bilbo, "You're alright!"

"Of course I'm alright," walking over I unsheathed my sword and used it to cut open the bag, "did you ever think I wasn't?"

Turning my attention to the other dwarves I found them all staring at me with odd looks in their eyes, "What's wrong?" I looked over my clothes and felt my face to see if anything was there. When I didn't find anything my confusion grew.

"Lady Amber!" Gandalf was next to draw my attention, and he gestured to the dwarves over the fire, "Is there any animal you could use to get them down?"

"Uh," I scrutinized the ropes holding them up, "I don't think so. May just be better to cut them down."

Gandalf nodded and began helping the dwarves down while I continued to cut the dwarves out of their sacks. They were still giving me weird looks and I ignored it for as long as I could until I finally broke, "What is wrong with all of you? Is there something on me?"

Most of the dwarves shared an uneasy look before continuing to put on their clothes while Bofur walked up to me cautiously, "We saw you talking with the trolls–brilliant cover by the way–and when you changed into the white bear, well, it surprised us."

My brows furrowed, "Why would it surprise you?"

Balin took over, "Our people have only seen that particular bear twice. She's a symbol of peace for our people."

"I didn't know Frothí was so highly regarded by you guys."

Now I had everybody's attention. Thorin's especially, "How do you know her name?"

"What do you mean 'her name'? I'm Frothí. You called me that after the Azanulbizar because I protected you and saved Frerin."

All of the dwarves started murmuring with one another and I saw Thorin look intently at my face. His eyes zoned in on the scar and I ran my finger across it, "Yeah, that was a careless move in my part. I've still got a scar on my shoulder from where that Orc tried to kill me."

"Wait," Fíli stepped up, "does that mean you're the same bear that saved Kíli and I from that snow storm?"

I laughed, "Yeah, you remember that?"

"Only a vaguely. Amad likes to remind us that we owe our lives to her–you."

Kíli huffed, "Why don't I remember?"

I answered him, "Probably because you were only around, what, six? And that was in human years. Either way you were super young."

"Frothí," I looked back at Thorin and smiled nervously. "I thought you said no more lies."

"I didn't lie about this," I defended. "It's not like I intentionally didn't tell you. It just never crossed my mind that you would want or need to know."

"Well," Gandalf approached the two of us while everybody went off to collect their clothes and weapons, "it seems you're full of surprises, Lady Amber."

I smiled, "I don't try to be."

Thorin gave him a hard stare, "And where did you go? If I may ask."

"To look ahead."

"What brought you back?"

Gandalf smiled wryly, "Looking behind." Thorin nodded his head with a ghost of a smile. "Nasty business. Still they are al in one piece."

Thorin raised his brow at Gandalf, "No thanks to your burglar."

Gandalf looked down at him sternly, "He had the knowledge to play for time. None of the rest of you thought of that."

I watched as Thorin grudgingly nodded his head and I pointed to the stone trolls, "So where'd they come from."

Gandalf hit one of them with his staff, "They must have come down from the Ettenmoors."

"Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?" Thorin asked.

Gandalf shook his head, "Oh, not for an age. Not since darker power ruled these lands." He shared a look with Thorin before looking back at the trolls, "They could not have moved in daylight."

Thorin turned around, "There must be a cave nearby."

The three of us walked joined the others to begin our trek back to camp. Once there a lot of them wanted to take a nap, since nobody got any sleep last night, but Thorin was adamant that we continue forward. So, with no food or rest, we moved forward in our adventure.


	17. Reunited

Our search for the troll cave was really only up to Gandalf. All of the dwarves were too busy staring at me to look. They didn't even try to be discreet about it, and it was really starting to unnerve me. I tried staring back to make them look away but it had no effect.

The biggest factor in finding the troll hoard was the smell. Bofur was the one to point it out, and after that we were all giving our own exclamations of disgust. It smelled like an old outhouse that's been left to rot away for decades.

Gandalf and the dwarves went into the cave to check it out while Bilbo and I stayed outside. Bilbo because he couldn't handle the smell and me because I wanted to get away from all of the stares for a while.

"Amber?" I looked down at Bilbo, "Why do they keep staring at you?"

"I think it's because they've found out I'm Frothí. I hadn't known it would be such a big deal but…" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Who's Frothí?"

"Frothí," Dwalin stepped out of the cave, "is the white bear that watches over the Durin line. She took part in the Azanulbizar, saving Thorin and Frerin, and years later she saved Fíli and Kíli. Many believe her to be a gift from Mahal himself," he looked at the head in my hair, "and it seems those rumors are true."

More dwarves began pouring out of the cave. They all gave me nods of respect and I gave them one in return. "I think you're all being ridiculous."

My statement raised incredulous eyebrows. "And how," Thorin carefully emerged from the cave, "is saving mine and my family's life, ridiculous?"

"I didn't mean that!" I shook my head frantically. "No, I would do it all over again no matter how many scars it gave me." This had them all looking at the scar across my face and I shifted subconsciously. "I'm just saying all of the staring is getting ridiculous. I'm still me. Still Amber. Saving Durins as a polar bear just seemed to sort of…happen. You all seem to be asking for death to come I just end up being the one to stop it."

Our conversation was interrupted by an odd sound coming from further in the forest around us. Thorin tightened his grip on the handle of a sword I haven't seen him use before, "Something's coming!"

Gandalf called for us all to stay together, and I unsheathed my own sword. The dwarves all bunched shoulder to shoulder and startled in surprise when a group of bunnies pulled into the clearing. What had me dropping my sword altogether was the fact that they were pulling a sled driven by an old man with bird poop on the side of his face, "Thieves, fire, murder!"

"Radagast," Gandalf was relieved when he said this, even a little amused, "Radagast the Brown."

Now that we knew there was no more danger the dwarves lowered their weapons. I had to bend down to pick up my sword and put it back into its sheath.

"How does Gandalf know him?"

I shuffled back towards the boys while Radagast informed Gandalf of something being "terribly wrong", "He's one of the wizards Gandalf knows."

Kíli tilted his head, "Is that...bird crap?"

I nodded my head and we watched as Radagast continuously tried to tell Gandalf what was wrong. It seems he'd forgotten what it was. "He seems a little senile," I commented.

Radagast seemed to have realized what it was that he wanted to say, and with grimaces of disgust we watched Gandalf pull a stick insect out of the brown wizards mouth. "Oh god," I moaned quietly, "I've seen a lot of things, but that has to be the grossest."

Gandalf pulled Radagast to the side so they could have their private conversation. The dwarves were left to speculate about the appearance of the new wizard, and to also resume staring at me.

"Are you really Frothí, the bear that saved us?" I looked over at Kíli to see him staring in childlike wonder. "The one everybody talks about."

I huffed, "Good lord." Crouching down onto all fours I allowed the change to rip through my body. Frothí was the animal I always turned into, just by default. It was why I did it last night. It was probably because it was the first animal I changed into when I came to Middle-Earth, so it was the one I felt the most comfortable with.

I wondered what the dwarves reactions were when they first saw me. No doubt they'd been very shocked. Seeing it would have been funny to see, but at least they found out off the battlefield. Being shocked still with an opponent right in front of them would not have been good on any level.

Fíli and Kíli were looking at me in complete awe. They hesitated first before running their fingers through my white fur. It was surreal to think that, all this time, they'd been traveling with the very creature that saved their lives as dwarflings. Even if she was a human she was also Frothí. The bear that older dwarves use in bedtime stories.

"How long have you been able to do this?"

Shifting back into a human I sat down on a nearby rock, "Since I was fourteen. The day Eru took me from my home. I don't know how or why I can do it, but it can. It was also the Azanulbizar that day."

The dwarves looked up at me in astonishment. Dori took a worried step forward, "You fought in that battle at fourteen years old?"

I grimaced at the memories and nightmares I gained from that battle, "Not my brightest idea considering that was my first day in Middle-Earth. I would like to think I did fairly well for my first battle though."

The dwarves started murmuring amongst themselves while Dori spluttered, "First battle? You were just a child! You shouldn't have been in the battle at all."

I smiled at him. Dori always was the mother hen of the group, "Thráin wasn't too happy about it either when I told him. He's probably kicking Aulë's ass right now because of it," that got some of the dwarves chuckling. "I don't mind it too much now. If I hadn't joined them I probably wouldn't have saved Frerin that day. The orc's would have killed him." I narrowed my eyes at Dwalin playfully, "He knew I was a girl." It may have been the trick of the light but Dwalin looked like he was blushing.

He was saved from having to respond by a loud howl echoing through the trees. Everybody looked around with tense postures. Bilbo asked, frightened, "Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?"

Bofur stepped in front of him nervously, "Wolves? No that is not a wolf."

A growling came from behind the group and we spin around in time to see a warm jump passed Bilbo and Bofur. Thorin and Dwalin beat it down with their weapons while another made itself known from behind them. Kíli took that one out with an arrow right to its face.

Thorin ripped his sword from the dead warg, "Warg scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind."

Bilbo raised his eyebrows, "'Orc pack'?"

"Who did you tell about your quest? Beyond your kin." Gandalf started walking towards Thorin.

"No one."

"Who did you tell?!"

"No one I swear!" Thorin defended himself. "What in Durins name is going on?"

"You are being hunted," Gandalf's frank response put us all on edge.

Dwalin voiced what we all wanted to do, "We have to get out of here."

"We can't!" Ori came down from where they had been watching over the ponies, "The ponies, they've bolted!"

Radagast spoke up, reminding us all of his presence, "I'll draw them off."

"These are Gundabad wargs," Gandalf refuted, "they will outrun you."

"These are Rhosgobel rabbits," he gave Gandalf a devious look, "I'd like to see them try."

Adrenaline pumped through me, "You are one badass bitch Radagast. Let's go!" Imagining the form of a cheetah I felt my body contort into the slim form of the fastest animal I knew. Everybody looked at the unfamiliar animal with intrigue, Radagast especially since he didn't know anybody had the ability to turn into animals.

Running up the slope I looked down and growled. Radagast took the hint and jumped onto the back of his sleigh. With some hurried "go, go!" to the rabbits they were tearing through the forest like it was nobodies business.

The two of us left the group in the dust while running closer and closer to the edge of the trees. I put all of my concentration on my speed to make sure I kept up with Radagast and his rabbits. They were very fast, and I've never been a cheetah before so I've never ran this fast during my time in Middle-Earth. It was rather exhilarating.

That feeling only increased when we broke out of the trees right in front of the orc pack. Radagast shouted, "Come and get us!" The orcs wasted no time urging their wargs to chase after us.

I stayed a little bit to the side of Radagast so he wouldn't accidentally run into me. Also while I was running alongside him I would catch glimpses of the dwarves running and then hiding behind large rocks that were strewn about the fields. In all honesty Radagast just seemed to be leading the pack in a giant circle.

A gut wrenching sound came from one particular group of rocks. I kept my eyes in that direction as I slowly cake to a stop. Radagast didn't seem to notice and his sleigh continued over the grassy slopes until he was out of sight.

I wasn't the only one to hear the heart stopping sound. All of the other orc's heard it too, and they completely forgot about me in favor of chasing after where they now knew the dwarves would be.

With their attention no longer on me I stayed behind the warg group as they circled around the dwarves. Gandalf was nowhere to be seen, and I saw what must have been the main orc and his warg prowl towards them. Ori shot at them with his sling-shot, but that did absolutely nothing.

Using my speed as a cheetah I ran towards the closest warg, and the moment I jumped I changed into a polar bear. My roar echoed across the fields, gaining everybody's attention in the process. My momentum knocked the orc out of his saddle and crushed him against the ground. Quickly turning around I charged at the warg and bit it on the leg.

Taking down a warg was much harder than killing an orc. I couldn't just crush it's skull under my paws, I had to fight it so it stood onto its back legs and claw at its underbelly. That way it would fall onto its back and I could latch onto its jugular and break some ribs.

A howl from behind me let me know another warg was going to attack. Deciding it would be easier as a human I changed shape and spun around. As I spun around I unsheathed my sword so it ended up slicing the warg right across the face. It flew passed me with a whimper of pain while I adjusted the hilt do I could stab it right in its flank.

"Amber! Kíli!"

I looked up and saw Kíli and I were the only ones left out. Thorin was standing by a large rock and was gesturing for the two of us to run towards him. I didn't waste any time changing back into a cheetah and sprinting my way over towards them. They both disappeared down some hole I was unable to see, and the orc's surrounded the area, making it impossible for me to get around them.

The blast of a horn went off from somewhere on my left, and I jerked my head to see about a dozen horses riding up to the wargs. The riders of those horses had bows and arrows that took out some of the wargs and orc's before they were close enough to use their swords. Most of them were defeated and the warg riders that remained took it upon themselves to retreat.

I suddenly saw an arrow being aimed at me and I shifted back into a human with my hands up in surrender, "Wait, wait! _{I'm a friend!}_ "

The arrow was lowered and another rider brought his horse closer to me. I couldn't see his face with the sun right behind his head, " _{You speak Sindarin?}_ "

" _{Yes,}_ " I cautiously stood up, but kept my hands in the air, " _{I learned in Lothlórien.}_ "

"Ada!" Two more riders came galloping up. Their horses hadn't even stopped running before they jumped down and ran up to me and the man I was speaking to. They didn't even look at their father, instead coming to stand right in front of my face and peering so close I would never mistake their identities.

"Elladan," I brought a hand up to cup his cheek. I looked at his brother, "Elrohir!" I touched his cheek briefly before pulling them both into a bone crushing hug. They both lifted me up so I was stuck between the both of them with my feet hanging above the ground. I had tears streaming down my face from the amount of happiness I was feeling in that moment. I hadn't seen either if them for sixty years, and it feels like a piece of me I didn't know was missing has been returned.

" _{Elladan is it really her?}_ "

I choked out a gasp, " _{Of course it's me!}_ "

Elladan laughed at his brother, " _{It has to be her. You saw her change from that cat into a human. Nobody else can do that.}_ "

I was lowered into the ground with the brothers checking every part of my body. Elladan traced the scar on my face, and I had no problems letting him, " _{It has to be you. Please tell me it's you.}_ "

My laugh was strained from the amount of emotions I felt, " _{I'm sorry I left. I'm so sorry. Thráin's death was just–I couldn't stay. Can you forgive me for leaving?}"_

The northern pulled me into another hug, and Elrohir whispered into my hair, " _{Of course we forgive you.}"_

 _"{We forgave you a long time ago}_ " Elladan added.

" _{We just can't believe you're still here.}_ "

I pulled out of their grasped and wiped away my tears in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"I believe," I looked behind me to see Elrond himself had gotten down from his horse and had his arms open in silent invitation, "they mean that it's been sixty years, and you haven't aged a day."

Without hesitation I ran into his arms to give him a long hug. I wasn't nearly as close to him as I was with Thráin, but I still cared for him. Maybe as much as one would for an uncle. "Why would I age?"

The twins chuckled, "Well when time passes–"

Elrohir continued, "–people age–"

"–and from the amount of time that's passed–"

They both finished the sentence simultaneously, "–we thought you'd be dead."

I laughed and broke from my hug with Elrond, "No boys. I have the lifespan of an elf, which means I age like an elf."

Their eyes widened, "Really?"

"I'm currently one hundred and fifty six."

"Well," Elrond set a hand on my shoulder, "I'm sure we would all love to hear what you've been up to." He stepped over to his horse and stepped into the saddle. "The sooner we return the sooner we can hear about it."

My arms were immediately grabbed onto by the twins and I was hauled up onto one of the horses with Elladan seated behind me. "I can run by myself you know."

The boys snorted, and I could hear Elladan smirking, "We just got you back, Amber. It's going to be a long time before we're comfortable letting you out of our sights."

With a carefree laugh I settled back against his chest and let him easily control the reins. All of the positive emotions coursing through my body made it difficult to stop smiling, so I stopped trying altogether. I was safely in the arms of the people I called my family. I didn't have to turn around to make sure nothing would come out to stab me in the back, and for that, I was the happiest I've ever felt in a long, long time.


	18. Thorin's View

When his nephews burst through the tree line exclaiming that Lady Amber and their burglar had gone off to take on mountain trolls Thorin had been, understandably, irritated. Not only did his nephews not stop them, but they sheepishly admitted to sending Master Baggins off on his own with Lady Amber following after him. He did not know much about the animal shifter, but he knew she was loyal to those she considered close friends.

He barked at everybody to grab their weapons and ordered Fíli and Kíli to lead them to where the trolls were. When he realized there were three trolls in total he cursed. One troll would have been easy, two manageable, but three made it much more difficult–especially when one was holding their burglar upside down with the threat of eating him.

Lady Amber surprised all of the dwarves by voluntarily jumping out of whatever spot she was in to save the hobbit. Thorin believed she would have run the moment things started taking a turn for the worst. He seems to underestimate this woman many times.

Thorin was rapidly trying to think of some way to interfere with the confrontation when Lady Amber suddenly changed her shape into one of her animals. Her abilities were still a novelty to the entire group, so it surprised them, but when it registered just what animal she'd turned into it made their jaws drop. Off to the side Kíli gasped in amazement.

Thorin's mind reeled with the proof that Lady Amber could turn into Frothí. The white bear had become a symbol of safety and good tidings within the dwarven communities, especially the Durin family. She had saved and protected Thorin, his brother, and his nephews in times of great need. Acts deemed worthy enough to be put into songs and written in story books.

Faced with the possibility of Amber being Frothí and the trolls threatening to eat her put the dwarves on edge. Kíli snarled ferociously and jumped in front of the dwarves. Thorin would have jumped out after him, but hesitated, allowing his nephew to get Lady Amber away fro the trolls before leading the rest of the company into a battle against the three trolls.

Thorin noted with no small amount of pride at how well his Company worked together to defeat the trolls. They had yet to gain any injuries and would have been victorious of their burglar hadn't been caught.

In any other situation he would have run forward to cut him down, but hobbits were not as sturdy as a dwarf. He would have been easily torn apart by the trolls, and as loathe as Thorin was to do it, he stuck his sword into the ground. The defeat and humiliation that followed left a bitter taste on his tongue.

All Thorin could do was watch as his Company faced what would most certainly end in their deaths. They weren't even halfway to the mountain yet, and already the quest had failed. Every dwarf that doubted the quest had been right to assume their demise. Dís and Frerin would be losing their brother and nephews, and it was all Thorins fault.

He watched as the burglar hopped to his feet and spoke to the trolls about seasonings. Thorin scowled in his direction, knowing that bringing the half long along had been a bad idea. He never did fit in with the Company no matter how much time Lady Amber spent with him.

When the skinniest troll picked up Bombur to eat him it made Thorin twitch, wanting nothing more than to get his sword and drive it into the trolls skull. Instead the hobbit was quick to save the cook by deciding all of them were infected with worms. It made Thorins eyebrows furrow together. The hobbit was trying to help them somehow, though one of the trolls was actually smart and seemed to know he was bluffing.

Movement from behind one of the rocks caught his attention. Thorin glanced over to see a grey robed man walk passed while the dawn seemed to be approaching.

Realization spread throughout Thorins body. The hobbit had been stalling for time so the trolls would have been turned to stone from the morning sunlight. With the new information he kicked his leg against the dwarves, making them all look at him, before they rushed to agree with whatever the burglar was saying.

It wasn't much linger until Gandalf took his place in top of the rock and splitting it in half. The trolls transformation into stone captivated all of the dwarves, and once they were completely still the Company cheered. Thorin allowed himself a small smile at the fact everybody was now safe.

He watched as Bofur and Balin confronted Lady Amber about her change into the bear so similar to Frothí. He thought her change into the white bear was just coincidence until she said the name only dwarves call her by, "How do you know her name?"

Lady Amber looked back in confusion, "What do you mean 'her name'? I'm Frothí. You called me that after the Azanulbizar because I protected you and saved Frerin."

Thorins eyes were riveted onto the scar that ran diagonally across her face. He had always silently wondered where the mark had come from, and he remembered the same wound on the bear. On Frothí. The bear his family is in debt to.

How could she or have said anything? "Frothí," Lady Amber immediately looked at him, cementing the possibility she was the guardian bear, "I thought you said no more lies."

She defended herself, "I didn't lie about this. It's not like I intentionally didn't tell you. It just never crossed my mind that you would want or need to know."

Thorin's attention was diverted when Gandalf walked over. The wizard always seemed to get there when he was needed most. This time he could admit to himself the hobbit had helped stall for the necessary time.

When they left to examine the troll cave he reluctantly accepted the elvish blade, though he wasn't happy about it. His distaste increased when he heard Lash Amber–Frothí, claim everybody was being ridiculous about who being the white bear, "And how is saving mine and my family's life, ridiculous?"

She was immediately on the defensive, "I didn't mean that! No, I would do it all over again no matter how many scars it gave me. I'm just saying all of the staring is getting ridiculous. I'm still me. Still Amber. Saving you Durins as a polar bear just sort of…happened. You all seem to be asking for death, I just end up being the one to stop it."

Thorin was taken aback by how dismissive Lady Amber was being. Anybody else would have been dancing with pride for saving a Durin and asking for favors, but instead she brushed it off like saving a royal line was nothing. He wasn't sure what to think.

The Company was interrupted by something quickly approaching and they all drew their weapons when a strange old man on a sled pulled by rabbits appeared. Gandalf called the man Radagast, and Thorin remembered him as the Brown wizard previously mentioned.

The two wizards went off a bit to talk privately while his nephews approached Frothí. Thorin didn't know what was said, but he watched with slightly widened eyes as she chuckled at something they said before crouching on all fours and bursting into the familiar white bear. It was only a few moments before she changed back, but it still hit the entire Company that the bear of their stories has been traveling with them.

More shocking was that Frothí was only fourteen years of age when she joined the Azanulbizar. No child should fight that young.

A familiar howl had Thorin clenching his hand around the pommel of his elven sword. The burglar asked if it was a wolf and Thorin snorted to himself at the halflings innocence.

Two wargs burst through the trees and Dwalin helped slay the first while Kíli took down the second with one of his arrows. Thorin felt a flash of pride for his nephew before he pushed it away. Now wasn't the time.

Gandalf tried to accuse him of telling people about the quest. Apparently the entire Company was being hunted by orc's and had no way of escaping now that the ponies were gone.

The Brown wizard claimed he could draw them off, and Frothí seemed more than happy to accompany him in the form of a lithe cat. Thorin wasn't sure how he felt about letting her go off with this strange wizard to complete a dangerous task, but they shot off before he could say anything.

The group of fifteen took the opportunity to run out into the fields. They constantly had to change directions because the Wizard would slide past them with Frothí then the orc's following behind.

Thorin glared at the Grey wizard, "Where are you leading us?"

Gandalf said nothing as they continued for another rock, and had to press themselves against it to keep a warg and its scout from spotting them. Thorin motioned for Kíli to shoot it down, but it wasn't a killing shot. They did kill the both of them, but it wasn't silent by any means.

Now the pack knew where they were so their running continued, but eventually the orc's surrounded them and Thorin called for them to draw their weapons. He waited for the first attack when a loud roaring came fro their left. All of them whipped around to see Frothí bodily tackle a warg and its rider. Killing both with little effort. Some of the dwarves cheered, but were cut off by a call from Gandalf.

Thorin made sure all of the dwarves made it down into the hole Gandalf discovered. Maybe not discovered so much as brought to. Thorin knew they were near Rivendell, the elven city. He had a feeling to where this hole led and he wasn't happy about it.

"Amber! Kíli!"

Kíli stopped shooting his arrows and jumped for the opening. Thorin looked to see Frothí quickly making her way towards him and he followed his nephew. All of the dwarves looked around, and when they spotted Lady Am er was missing they all looked up in wait for her to come down.

Seconds ticked by and the sound of a horn blasted through the air. It set them all on edge and Frothí still had yet to join them. An orc fell down the hole with an arrow lodged in its body. Thorin ripped it out with disgust, noting the elvish make.

The noise of battle died down and Frothí still hadn't come down. Fíli steppes forward hesitantly, "Should we go up for her?"

"No," Dwalin gruffly but calmly denied, "best we keep moving."

Kíli, Fíli, Ori, and the burglar spluttered denials, but Dwalin was right. Thorin didn't want to think of what may have happened to Frothí. How, if she had been unable to make it to the tunnel, Thorin had failed her when she needed him most. She saved him, yet he couldn't save her.

Thorin made sure nobody stayed behind to try and clamber up the tunnel as Gandalf led them further into the tunnel. None of them spoke. Thoughts of Frothí weighing heavily on their minds. There was a large chance she was still alive, but why would she not have come down into the tunnel with them? It was those doubts that made them wonder if she had been killed. Either by the orc's or the elves. And if it was one of the elves Thorin would not hesitate to avenge her.


	19. Imaldris

_{Sindarin}_

* * *

The horses galloped over the stone bridge without fear. I looked over the edge in trepidation, my only comfort coming from Elladan's arm wrapped securely around my waist.

At the end of the bridge, standing at the base of a staircase, were all thirteen dwarves with Bilbo shoved in the middle. I smiled happily when I noticed nobody had any injuries.

That smile faded quickly when I realized the horses had yet to slow down. I grabbed Elladan's arm tightly and waited for him to slow his horse, but it never happened. "What are you doing?" The elf just chuckled in my ear, not bothering to give me an answer.

The elves slowed down enough so they wouldn't crash into the group of dwarves. Instead they circled around them to make it seem like they had no place to go. I frowned while looking over all of the elves. The horses were almost twice the size of a dwarf. Perhaps they wanted to provide a show of intimidation.

"Gandalf." Elrond sat atop his brown stallion as he addressed the elder wizard.

Gandalf smiled. "Lord Elrond." He bowed his head while saying "my friend" in Elvish. The grey wizard continued. " _{Where have you been?}_ "

Elrond became rather serious. " _{We've been hunting a pack of Orc's that came up from the South.}_ " He moved his cape out of the way so he could swing out of his horses saddle with no difficulty. " _{We slew a number neat the Hidden Pass.}_ " Once close enough the elf and wizard embraced lightly.

When Elrond pulled back he held up an Orc blade. "Strange for Orcs to come so close to our borders." He walked around him to give the blade to an elf I didn't recognize. "Something, or someone, has drawn them near."

"Ah, that may have been us." Gandalf nodded to the Company while managing to sound unapologetic about the Orc pack.

From my vantage point on the horse I could see Thorin step forward from the group of dwarves. Elrond stepped forward to meet him. "Welcome, Thorin, son of Thráin."

I commended Elrond on the tame welcome, but then Thorin had to open his mouth and ruin his chances of good hospitality. "I do not believe we have met."

Luckily Elrond took no offense. "You have your grandfathers bearing. I knew Thror, when he ruled Under the Mountain."

"Indeed? He made no mention of you."

"On for–!" I slipped off of Elladan's horse. My words and actions gained everybody's attention. The dwarves relaxed a fraction when they recognized me. "Thorin, you need to show more respect." I walked up to the two leaders and stood a little behind Elrond. "The respect one King would give to another, no matter who they are."

Thorin looked to be warring with happiness and irritation. I assumed the happiness came from me being okay and the irritation from me telling him off.

"Amber!" Bilbo forced his way through the wall of dwarves so he could see me properly. "You're alright?"

"Of course." I smiled warmly at the hobbit. "Elrond and his people helped me out."

Somebody scoffed, and the familiar form of Elrohir sauntered up to throw an arm around my shoulders. "As if we would let anyone harm you."

Elladan dismounted from his horse to stand on my other side. "And they aren't father's people, they're yours too."

Dwalin stepped forward with a scowl. "Lady Amber is no _elf_."

"No?" Elladan moved my hair so he could get a better look at my ears. "He's right brother! She's not!"

"Perhaps not physically, brother mine." Elrohir lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder.

The dwarves surged forward threateningly, but stopped when they heard me squealing with laughter. "Put me down, Elrohir! Your shoulder is digging into my stomach!"

Elrohir hummed mockingly. "No. I don't think I will. _{Come on, brother. We have a dwarf/human/elf to interrogate}._ "

I could've escaped his hold by turning into a bird and flying off. The fact I didn't told the boys I didn't actually mind being carried away to an unknown location. Elladan nodded to his father before following his brother and I up the stone staircase.

The dwarves all started arguing about giving me back, but I ignored them. I'd been with those men for weeks, and I wanted to be with my pseudo-brothers.

"I have missed you, muindor."

Elrohir squeezed the arm holding my waist. "It can't compare to how much we've missed you, muinthel."

He slowly set me down so I could walk up the rest of the stairs on my own. My eyes flew all over the place so I could take in the familiar surroundings. Sixty years ago I left this place, and not a single things had changed. "Pull off any good pranks while I was away?"

"Oh no, dear Amber. You will be telling us everything that happened to you, starting from the day you left Imaldris to today."

Elladan opened his bedroom door with a nod. "Agreed. We would especially like to know how you got stuck with a group of dwarves as company."

"She must like dwarves more than us. First Thráin now his son." Elrohir looked at me worriedly when he said Thráin's name, but I smiled reassuringly. It still hurt knowing he was gone, but I could handle it better now.

"Well," I went out onto the balcony attached to Elladan's room, "not much happened at first. I basically became a wanderer and went wherever I felt like. It wasn't until winter time when I came across something interesting…" I continued my tale on how I found a young Fíli and Kíli freezing in a cave, then moved on to what other things I'd found while adventuring across Middle-Earth.

The twin elves continuously smoked pipe-weed while listening to my stories. They would laugh at some points while asking questions at others. They actually looked worried when I talked about young Fíli and Kíli. When I asked why they reminded me that children are revered in elvish culture since there are so few elves born.

As evening fell my throat ached from talking so much and my stomach rumbled with hunger. Elladan called story time to an end so we could all get something to eat.

I looked at them with a mischievous twinkle in my grey eyes. "Last one there's an Orc." Immediately shifting into a robin I flew down the corridor with Elrohir and Elladan yelling after me. As a bird my laughter came out as loud whistling tweets.

About halfway to the kitchen I heard a loud commotion coming from further down the hall. I sped up and came just in time to see Bombur break the table he'd been sitting on.

All of the dwarves broke into loud laughter while I changed back into my human self. While it was slightly amusing I felt bad for the large dwarf. "That wasn't very nice, you know."

The dwarves spun around to see me leaning against the far wall. Shouts of my name were tossed into the air, along with happy exclamations.

I smiled at the Company and looked back down the hall I just came from. Elladan and Elrohir rounded the corner and saw me standin in the middle of the hall. "Tired already, sister dearest?"

My heart warmed at his use of "sister". "No, actually. I found my Company."

Elladan and Elrohir stopped running and stood on either side of me. The dwarves stared warily at the unfamiliar dwarves. I smiled reassuringly. "Guys, this is Elladan," I gestured to the elf on my left, then to my right, "and Elrohir."

The elves bowed. "It is an honor to meet the group of men protecting our sister, is it not brother?"

Elladan nodded. "It is indeed, Elrohir. Eru knows she needs all the protection she can get."

"Excuse you," I shoved them both. "I managed sixty years on my own without any 'protection'. I certainly don't need it now. If anything I'm protecting this lot." Some denials came up from the dwarves, but we ignored them.

"Well, as lovely as this meeting was," Elrohir smirked at me, "last one to the kitchen is an Orc, no?"

The two elves bolted down the hallway whole I balked at their backs. The younger dwarves chuckled while some of the elder dwarves rose questioning eyebrows.

I smiled sheepishly. "They're like brothers to me. And elf versions of Fíli and Kíli." Said dwarves looked uncomfortable being called similar to elves. "Why are you guys sitting in this hallway?"

Bofur spoke up. "They tried putting us in separate rooms." He shook his head. "We weren't about to be separated."

I nodded thoughtfully. It didn't come as a surprise to me that they wanted to stay together. "And Bilbo?"

Gloin grumbled. "He took the room they offered 'im."

I rose an eyebrow. "And what's wrong with wanting to sleep on a comfortable mattress after weeks of traveling instead of stone floors? I'll be using my own room while we're here." I looked at Bofur. "How long will we be here?"

He shrugged. "A week or so, we think. Elrond's gotta wait for a certain day til he can read the map."

I hummed happily. "Good. So I'll see you guys tomorrow?" I waved goodbye before tuning back into a bird and flying towards the kitchen. The brothers would've made it there by aNow, and they'd probably tease me about losing for the rest of the night. I couldn't really bring myself to mind.

Of course once I got tired of their ribbing I abandoned them with the excuse of being tired. Which wasn't a lie either so I didn't feel bad about leaving them at a rather early time.

While walking through the hall to my room I ran into Bilbo. I smiled at the familiar figure and he smiled brightly in return. "Miss Amber! I haven't seen you since this afternoon. Are you alright?"

"I'm perfectly fine, Bilbo, thank you." The hobbit's concern warmed me. "And you? How are you finding Rivendell?"

If possible his smile grew even brighter. "Beautiful. Those dwarves are always grumbling about the sloppy stonework, but I just don't see it! The city is absolutely marvelous."

I laughed. "It definitely is. Thráin thought so too, but he only ever admitted it once."

"Thráin? Thorins father?"

My smile turned wistful. "He was. An extraordinary dwarf, and the bravest person I ever knew." After a few seconds to reminisce I shook it off. "Enough about the past. How would you like a tour of Imaldris tomorrow? Bofur says we'll be here about a week. Might as well know how to get around, hm?"

Bilbo nodded. "That sounds lovely. I would also appreciate knowing how to get to my own rooms!"

The hobbit always managed to get a laugh out of me. "That would be nice, wouldn't it? Do you know what hallway they were in?"

"I do not," he admitted huffily.

"Then you can stay with me in my room for the night." Bilbo tried protesting but il wouldn't hear it. "It's either in a soft bed or the stone floor with thirteen dwarves snoring around you."

It really only took a second of deliberation before Bilbo caved. We walked through the halls in comfortable silence before I reached the door the elves basically gifted to me for whenever I visited. "This is it."

Bilbo admired the architecture of the room. When he noticed the balcony made an alarmed noise. "My room doesn't have a balcony."

I shrugged. "I am sort of an honorary elf. And I'm close to Elrond's sons."

He nodded understandingly and walked over to the large bed. "You're sure you want to share?"

"Positive. It's no trouble, and the bed's big enough for us to fit comfortably on our own sides."

I changed in the bathroom while Bilbo stripped off the outermost layer of his clothes. He didn't have his night clothes with him, so his short and pants would have to be enough. Bilbo seemed embarrassed by my fairly underdressed state, but I waved him off. "There's nothing to worry about Bilbo. We're friends, and we've been traveling together for weeks by now."

He nodded determinedly and climbed under the covers. He stayed as far away from me as possible, which made me chuckle. In Middle-Earth it wasn't entirely appropriate to sleep in ones chambers unless it was a loved one. I offered since I figured he wanted a bed to lie in, and to fall asleep to blissful silence without being woken in the middle of the night to ground shaking snores.

For a while I stared out the balcony doors, listening to Bilbo's deep breathing turn into soft snores. My eyes flicked to each star trying to remember the constellations from Earth. One was some sort of ladle, and a lion, and a dog. I could only ever find the ladle. Something Dipper. My eyes slowly drifted closed, and my last thoughts for the night centered around Durins star.


	20. Chapter 20

A loud gasp startled me awake. I jerked into a sitting position, and grumbled when the bright morning light burned my retinas. Bilbo slept on in the bed beside me. He made a snuffling noise before turning over and burrowing deeper under the covers.

I blinked away the spots in my vision, and searched for the noise that woke me up. Since Bilbo was still asleep I knew it wasn't him, so I looked at the door leading into my room, and there stood Elladan and Elrohir. The twin brothers stared at me in complete shock. Their gaping mouth slowly turned into smirks.

Elrohir raised his eyebrows. "I see you've made more than just friends since you've left, muinthel."

My mind was still clouded from sleep. Elrohir nodded his head at Bilbo, and his statement finally made sense. "No! Bilbo is just a friend, nothing more."

The hobbit chose that moment to wake up. Our talking must've been why, because he pulled the covers over his head while grumbling for us to be quiet.

Elladan and Elrohir both laughed at his actions, and Bilbo jerked into a sitting position. The comforter slid off of his head, revealing golden curls messy with bed-head. He stared at the two elves with horror filled eyes. "Goodness! Oh dear, oh dear. This isn't what it looks like!"

Now I was beginning to laugh at the poor hobbit. His face reddened to the point a tomato would be jealous. "Bilbo, it's alright. They're just teasing us." Bilbo finally stopped rambling, but his face was still flushed with embarrassment.

Elladan looked between us suspiciously. "So, nothing happened between you two? Just a male friend sleeping with his female friend?"

I rolled out of bed with a sigh. "Yes, Elladan. Bilbo is traveling with the dwarves and I."

Elrohir hummed. "So long as he stays a friend. Our muinthel deserves better than a halfling."

Bilbo squawked indignantly. "Excuse you, sir, but I am half of nothing!"

The brothers leaned back. They hadn't been prepared for Bilbo to snap back at them. "The kitten has claws!" Elladan exclaimed. "Maybe you aren't the worst suitor for our muinthel."

I rolled my grey eyes. "Neither of you have any say in my love life. If I wanted to date Bilbo–which I don't–then I would, and neither of you could stop me."

Elrohir squinted his eyes. "This sounds like a challenge. Don't you think so, brother?"

Elladan slowly nodded. "It certainly does, brother. We'll have to watch her closely. Make sure her future partner will deserve her."

Grabbing my pillow off the bed I chucked it at them. Elrohir batted it away while both brothers laughed at me. "Get out, the both of you! I need to change."

The brothers moved towards the door, but when they noticed Bilbo didn't move they paused. Elrohir stared at him suspiciously. "Muinthel, you would change in front of this hobbit?"

I shook my head. "I was going to change in the bathroom. Bilbo stayed with me tonight because he didn't know where his room was."

Elladan held out a hand. "The halfling can come with us. We can show him to his rooms."

Bilbo and I stared at the elf in suspicion. I stared because I knew Elladan would probably try to pull a prank on the poor hobbit. Bilbo stared because he didn't trust the elf no matter how pretty he looked.

"Bilbo," the hobbit looked over at me, "you can go with them, if you wish."

He looked between me and the elven twins. We could tell he was weighting his options by the expression on his face. In the end he climbed out of bed and gathered his clothes. "Thank you for allowing me to stay in your rooms, Lady Amber." Bilbo bowed slightly, then spun on his heel to march out of the room.

"Oh, Bilbo!" The hobbit turned to give me an inquisitive look. "I'll find you later this afternoon, and give you that tour we talked about last night."

Bilbo's face lit up. "That would be wonderful, Lady Amber."

Two arms draped over his shoulders. When Bilbo looked up he saw Elladan and Elrohir smiling mischievously. "If it's a tour you want, we'll be more than happy to show you around!"

I watched them lead Bilbo out of my room. The poor hobbit had no idea what the twins were like, and I felt bad for leaving him in their mercy. Hopefully Elladan and Elrohir would be gentle with him. Bilbo truly was a gentle creature and very polite. Those two elves would no doubt get on Bilbo's nerves if he spent too much time with them.

Alone in the privacy of my room I could finally take a much needed bath. I didn't take one the night before because I was too busy catching up with Elladan and Elrohir. Not to mention I was exhausted from traveling.

My room had its own ensuite, and I filled the wood tub with steaming water so I could submerge my body. The warmth relaxed all my muscles, and I could finally undo my braid to wash my hair. Traveling makes it difficult to take care of my hair. I couldn't wash it properly, and dealing with the braid without a mirror was near impossible. It always loosens after I sleep, and I do my best to tighten it, but there wasn't much I could do. Not to mention traveling with a large group of dwarves. Their race is very particular about hair, for whatever reason, so I wasn't sure how it would be taken if I started messing with mine. It wouldn't have mattered to me had I not been wearing Thráin's hair pieces. I also never see the dwarves messing with their hair, so I tried to fiddle with my hair as little as possible.

Now, in the privacy of my rooms, I could take as much time as needed to properly care for my hair. Not just my hair either. Traveling with a group of 15 men left me with little to no privacy. Coming to Rivendell was a true godsend.

I had to empty the bath and refill it because of how dirty the water became. By the second time I climbed out of the water without a speck of dirt on my body. I also got the chance to shave. I couldn't remember the last time I shaved, and I sighed in relief when I felt my silk-smooth legs.

Next to the tub was a washbasin and a toilet. They weren't the industrial objects from Earth, but they definitely worked better than squatting by trees and quick washes in a river with no soap.

I didn't need either of those items since my hairbrush was on the vanity in the main part of my room. It sat just out of reach from the balcony doors. I sat on the cushioned stool and gazed thoughtfully into the mirror.

My red hair looked darker than normal thanks to the bath. The loose tendrils hung all the way passed my waist. A comb sat on the vanity, waiting to be used. During the bath I felt how tangled my hair was, and I didn't look forward to the pain brushing it would cause.

In the end, after a lot of pain, frustrated shouting, and accidentally ripping out a few hairs, I could finally run my fingers through the damp locks without any resistance. My hair was the softest it's been in years.

Braiding came next. All of Thráin's beads and hair pieces sat in wait on the vanity counter. It took a lot of concentration to put the beads in correctly. The amount of hair I had to work with only served to make it harder.

When I tied off the braid I decided to let it hang over my right shoulder. Usually I wrapped it around my shoulders because of how long it was, but with the clothes I was going to wear I decided against it.

Since the Company would be in Rivendell for an indefinite amount of time I could wear comfortable clothes. My standard traveling clothes were pants, boots, and a tunic. They were the clothes I didn't have to worry about if they got torn or stained.

Inside the wardrobe were dozens of dresses Elrond gifted to me when he gave me the room. None of them were truly mine, since I never bought any of them. The dresses were obviously a gift, but I never wore them because I already felt as though I owed the elf Lord. I also never felt comfortable wearing a dress.

Today I decided to try one out. Several of them had intricate laces through the back that would require the help of a second person. A few of them looked so ornate I'd expect someone of high standard to wear them at special events.

The dress I chose was dark grey in color. The long sleeves hung loosely from my arms. I could barely feel the material thanks to its light weight. It had a modest neckline that prevented me from worrying about accidentally flashing somebody. It hugged me tightly around the waist, and thanks to all my traveling and fighting over the years my stomach was fairly flat, so I didn't feel self-conscious about my waistline. Once it reached my hips the material seamlessly flowed to the floor. It was long enough to cover my feet when I stood still, but it didn't get in the way when I walked.

Unfortunately the only shoes I had were my traveling boots. I never asked Elrond for new shoes; especially not after he gifted me an entire wardrobe of fancy dresses. With no money I could never buy shoes. Wearing thick, mud-covered boots with such a pristine dress would look ridiculous, so I decided not to wear them. The stone and marble floors were so smooth and clean I didn't have to worry about stepping on anything that would hurt me.

As I examined myself in the mirror my stomach grumbled. I placed my hand against my abdomen in surprise. Glancing out the open balcony doors I noted the suns position. Elladan and Elrohir woke Bilbo and me up in the early dawn hours. Now it looked like mid-morning.

I glanced in the mirror one more time. The dress made me look completely different, and my hair looked healthier than ever. The braid looked good draped over one shoulder instead of being wrapped around both of them.

Exiting my room, I made sure the door closed behind me before I headed for the kitchen. I couldn't wait to eat a meal that didn't consist of soup and bread. Bombur was a wonderful cook, but weeks of soup, dried meat, and bread only appealed to my appetite for so long.

When I entered the kitchen area it was empty. I perused through the cupboards in search of food. I knew elves didn't eat meat, so my choices were limited. As a result I found myself collecting the ingredients for a salad. Perhaps not the most mouthwatering food, but it was better than soup.

I put all of the food items I managed to find onto a counter. The tomato and cheese I found needed to be chopped, and I had to wash and rip up the lettuce. The tasks were easy, and I allowed myself to daydream while I prepared my meal.

I just finished adding the chopped tomato to my bowl when I heard someone enter the kitchen. Looking up I made a surprised noise when I discovered Nori standing in the doorway. "Good morning, Master Nori! I hope you slept well."

The auburn haired dwarf startled at the sound of my voice. He jerked his eyes away from the silver candelabra he'd been eyeing, and when he spotted me his brown eyes widened. "Lady Amber?"

I hummed in acknowledgment. "I'd recommended against stealing from your host." I knew Nori was a thief. It was hard not knowing everybody's profession after traveling with them for so long. Fíli and Kíli enjoyed telling stories about a few of the dwarves, while Bofur filled me in on the rest. Apparently Dwalin and Nori were at odds many times considering Dwalin's job as a guard.

"Lass, what are you wearing?"

My eyebrows furrowed, and I glanced down at my dress worriedly. "What do you mean? Is there something wrong with it?" From my angle everything looked fine, but Nori might have spotted something I didn't.

He quickly shook his head. "No, no. I've never seen you in a dress, is all. Surprised me."

I made a noise of understanding. "I see." With one last cut I finished chopping the onion. "As I was saying: please don't steal anything from here."

Nori's smile was so innocent I knew it was fake. "Never, Lady Amber. I wouldn't dream of stealing from our hosts."

"Good. I'd be surprised if you did steal something. You'd have to truly admire the elven craftsmanship if you feel the need to steal their silverware." Digging through drawers finally revealed a fork for me to eat with.

Nori spluttered slightly while I started eating my salad. I didn't take the time to make a dressing, so it tasted a little bland, but otherwise it was perfect.

When the spluttering ceased I looked up from the food. Nori managed to disappear from the room without me noticing. With a shrug of my shoulders I went back to finishing my salad. Once I finished I could search for Bilbo, and give him a small tour of the valley.


End file.
